Anonymous

How to spell anonymous

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce anonymous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does anonymous mean?

1. adjectiveHaving an unknown or undisclosed name or identity.

Anonymous in a sentence

• The tip-off came from an anonymous caller who refused to leave a number.

• She made an anonymous donation so the charity could not trace the gift back to her.

Where does anonymous come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek anonymos, which literally meant 'without a name', built from the negative prefix an- ('without' or 'not') and onyma, the Greek word for 'name'. It passed into Latin as anonymus and reached English in the early 1600s, at first describing writings published without the author's name attached. Over time the sense broadened from unnamed texts to any unidentified person or source. The same onyma root for 'name' sits inside a family of relatives such as 'synonym', 'pseudonym', and 'antonym', which is a useful memory hook: the tricky middle is spelled o-n-y-m, just as in those cousins. The unstressed vowels around that root are exactly where adults slip, so picturing the 'onym' name-element helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• an- (Greek: without)
• onym (from onyma: name)
• -ous (adjective suffix)