anthem

English

Etymology

From Middle English anteme, from Old English antefn, antefen and Old French antiene, anteine, anteivne, from Latin antiphōna, from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna), from ἀντί (antí, “over against”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”). Compare antiphon and ant'em.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæn.θəm/
• IPA^(key): /ˈæn.təm/

Noun

anthem (plural anthems)

1. (archaic) Antiphon.
2. A choral or vocal composition, often with a religious or political lyric.

   The school's anthem sang of its many outstanding qualities, and it was hard to keep a straight face while singing.

3. A hymn of praise or loyalty.

   The choir sang a selection of Christmas anthems at the service just before the big day.

4. (informal) A very popular song or track.
   • 2003, Peter Buckley, The rough guide to rock:

     In May 2000, they even finally cracked the UK top ten when they teamed up with Paul Van Dyk on the trance anthem "The Riddle"...

Derived terms

• anthemic
• national anthem

Translations

national anthem

• Albanian: himn (sq) m
• Arabic: نَشِيد m (našīd)
• Armenian: հիմն (hy) (himn), օրհներգ (hy) (ōrhnerg)
• Azerbaijani: himn (az)
• Belarusian: гімн m (himn)
• Bulgarian: химн (bg) m (himn)
• Burmese: နိုင်ငံတော်သီချင်း (my) (nuingngamtausihkyang:), အမျိုးသားသီချင်း (my) (a.myui:sa:sihkyang:)
• Catalan: himne (ca) m
• Central Kurdish: سرود (srood)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 國歌／国歌 (zh) (guógē), 国歌 (zh) (guógē)

• Czech: národní hymna f, hymna (cs) f
• Danish: nationalsang (da) c
• Dutch: volkslied (nl) n
• Erzya: мастморо (mastmoro)
• Esperanto: himno (eo)
• Estonian: hümn
• Faroese: tjóðsangur m
• Finnish: hymni (fi)
• French: hymne (fr) m
• Georgian: ჰიმნი (ka) (himni), ეროვნული ჰიმნი (erovnuli himni), სახელმწიფო ჰიმნი (saxelmc̣ipo himni)
• German: Hymne (de) f
• Hebrew: הִמְנוֹן (he) m (himnon)
• Hindi: गान (hi) m (gān)
• Hungarian: himnusz (hu)
• Icelandic: þjóðsöngur m
• Ido: himno (io)
• Interlingue: ,
• Irish: amhrán náisiúnta m
• Italian: inno nazionale, inno (it) m
• Japanese: 国歌 (ja) (こっか, kokka)
• Kalmyk: частр (çastr)
• Kazakh: әнұран (kk) (änūran)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: ភ្លេងជាតិ (phleing ciət)
• Korean: 국가 (ko) (gukga) (國歌 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: гимн (ky) (gimn)
• Lao: ເພງຊາດ (phēng sāt)
• Latvian: himna f
• Lithuanian: himnas m
• Macedonian: химна f (himna)
• Malay: lagu kebangsaan
• Maori: ngaringari
• Mongolian: сүлд дуулал (süld duulal)
• Norwegian: nasjonalsang m
• Pashto: ملهم m (malhám), ملي سرود (ps) m (meli sarúd), سرود (ps) m (sorúd)
• Persian: سرود (fa) (sorud)
• Polish: hymn (pl) m
• Portuguese: hino (pt) m
• Romanian: imn național n, imn (ro) n
• Russian: гимн (ru) m (gimn)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: химна f

  Roman: himna (sh) f

• Slovak: hymna (sk) f
• Slovene: himna (sl) f
• Spanish: himno (es) m
• Swedish: nationalsång (sv) c
• Tajik: мадҳия (tg) (madhiya), суруд (tg) (surud)
• Thai: เพลงชาติ (th) (pleeng-châat)
• Turkish: marş (tr)
• Turkmen: gimn
• Ukrainian: гімн m (himn)
• Uyghur: گىمن (gimn), دۆلەت شېئىرى (dölet shë'iri)
• Uzbek: gimn (uz)
• Vietnamese: quốc ca (vi) (國歌)

hymn of praise or loyalty

• Armenian: օրհներգ (hy) (ōrhnerg)
• Bulgarian: химн (bg) m (himn)
• Catalan: himne (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聖歌／圣歌 (zh) (shènggē), 圣歌 (zh) (shènggē)

• Czech: hymna (cs) f
• Dutch: strijdlied (nl) n
• Finnish: hymni (fi)
• French: hymne (fr) f
• Georgian: ჰიმნი (ka) (himni)
• Hindi: भजन (hi) m (bhajan)
• Hungarian: himnusz (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: aintiún (ga) m
• Italian: inno (it)
• Japanese: 聖歌 (せいか, seika)
• Korean: 성가 (ko) (seongga)
• Maori: ngaringari
• Norwegian: hymne (no) m
• Polish: hymn (pl) m
• Portuguese: hino (pt) m
• Romanian: imn (ro) n
• Russian: гимн (ru) m (gimn)
• Spanish: himno (es) m
• Swedish: hymn (sv) c, lovsång (sv) c

very popular track or song

• Portuguese: hino (pt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

anthem (third-person singular simple present anthems, present participle antheming, simple past and past participle anthemed)

1. (transitive, poetic) To celebrate with anthems.
   • 1819 (date written), John Keats, “Fancy”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 124:

     [T]hou shalt hear / Distant harvest-carols clear; / Rustle of the reaped corn; / Sweet birds antheming the morn: [...]

Anagrams

• Hemant, hetman, mentha, nameth, the man