anagram
/ˈæ.nə.ɡɹæm/ noun, verb
Forms anagrams anagramming anagrammed anagramme
- noun (of words) A word or phrase that is created by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.
- verb To form anagrams.
Synonyms
Etymology
Late 16th century, either from Middle French anagramme or Latin anagramma, formed on Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up, back”) + γράμμα (grámma, “letter”). Analyzable as ana- (“up, back”) + -gram (“letter”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Literally, the letters of a word read backwards, but in its usual wider sense, the change or one word or phrase into another by the transposition of its letters. Thus Galenus becomes angelus; William Noy (attorney-general to Charles I., and a laborious man) may be turned into I moyl in law.
- verb To anagrammatize.
Etymology [F. anagramme, LL. anagramma, fr. Gr. Graphic.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “anagram”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details