Annals

How to spell annals

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce annals

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does annals mean?

1. nounA chronological record of events, or the documented history of a place, organisation, or field.

Annals in a sentence

• The discovery earned the scientist a lasting place in the annals of medicine.

• The club's annals list every champion since its founding in 1894.

Where does annals come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin annales, short for annales libri, meaning 'yearly books', the official records in which Roman authorities noted the notable events of each passing year. The root is the Latin annus, meaning 'year', the same root that sits inside familiar words such as 'annual', 'anniversary', and 'biannual'. English borrowed the term in the sixteenth century, originally referring to historical accounts arranged year by year, and it broadened to mean any chronicle or body of recorded history. The word survives almost always in the plural, which is why writers reach for 'annals' rather than a singular form. The doubled 'n' is a direct inheritance from Latin annus and is the main spelling trap, since the unstressed second syllable gives no clue that an 'a' rather than an 'e' belongs before the final 's'.

How the word is built

• ann- (from Latin annus: year)
• -al (relating to)
• -s (plural)