Anecdote

How to spell anecdote

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce anecdote

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does anecdote mean?

1. nounA short, often amusing account of a real incident or person.

Anecdote in a sentence

• The best man opened his speech with a funny anecdote about the groom.

• She shared an anecdote from her first week on the job to put everyone at ease.

Where does anecdote come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the Greek anekdota, which literally meant 'things not given out' or 'things unpublished', formed from an- meaning 'not', ek- meaning 'out', and didonai, the verb 'to give'. In the ancient world the term was famously used as the title of a secret history by the Byzantine writer Procopius, a collection of court gossip he had deliberately kept back from publication. Over time the sense softened from 'unpublished secrets' to any short, entertaining account of a real incident. English took the word in the late 1600s, partly through French anecdote and partly straight from the Latinised Greek. The hidden 'ek' (out) and 'dot' (give) elements explain the otherwise odd 'cd' spelling in the middle, and they also help keep anecdote apart from its lookalike 'antidote', which shares the 'give' root but means a remedy given against poison.

How the word is built

• an- (not)
• ek- (out)
• dot (from didonai: to give)
• -e