Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase, such as satin to stain.
  • noun A game in which players form words from a group of randomly picked letters.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A transposition of the letters of a word or sentence, to form a new word or sentence: thus, Galenus is an anagram of angelus.
  • noun A word formed by reading the letters of one or more words backward; a palindrome: thus, evil is an anagram of live.
  • To form into an anagram.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Literally, the letters of a word read backwards, but in its usual wider sense, the change of 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.
  • transitive verb To anagrammatize.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun of words A word or phrase that is created by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.
  • verb To form anagrams.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a word or phrase spelled by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase
  • verb read letters out of order to discover a hidden meaning

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin anagramma, from Greek anagrammatismos, from anagrammatizein, to rearrange letters in a word : ana-, from bottom to top; see ana– + gramma, grammat-, letter; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Late 16th century, from French anagramme, formed on Greek ἀνά (ana, "up, back") + γράμμα (gramma, "letter").

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Examples

  • Oh, Humbert Humbert anagram is Hmm, the brute rub!

    Lolita (copy) ____Maggie 2008

  • Mittelos was probably chosen as a name for the front biolab because the anagram is “lost time” and little else.

    The Tail Section » Paik Heavy Industries: The Lost Experience Redux 2007

  • Has anyone figured out what the third anagram is from the final�????

    The Tail Section » Scant Season Four Details 2007

  • In Rouen, the queens of hearts, diamonds and clubs were Rachel, mother of Joseph; Argine, an anagram of regina, the Latin word for queen; and Judith, of the Old Testament.

    THE HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS 2006

  • There are 31 actors' and actresses' surnames in this poem, including one full name anagram in the first verse.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Eeleen Lee 2010

  • There are 31 actors' and actresses' surnames in this poem, including one full name anagram in the first verse.

    Celluloid Rehab Eeleen Lee 2010

  • Parliament, under the name of ‘The Senate of Lilliput,’ sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered.

    The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. 2004

  • What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of 'The Senate of Lilliput,' sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered.

    Life Of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887

  • Parliament, under the name of 'The Senate of Lilliput,' sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered.

    Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765 James Boswell 1767

  • What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of 'The Senate of Lilliput,' sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered.

    Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood James Boswell 1767

Comments

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  • Is there a better word than Christmas for generating anagrams?

    Here are some nice seasonal ones:

    mirth sacs (think bowlful of jelly...)

    trims cash

    misc. trash

    Other cool ones:

    scrim hats

    art schism

    ram schist

    miss chart

    cart shims

    shirt cams

    car smiths

    marsh tics...

    Happy Holidays from Mr. Ass Itch...

    December 13, 2007

  • HAHA! *runs off to rewrite Christmas cards*

    December 13, 2007

  • Here's part of a card that I sent out a few years ago, reesetee.

    Of course, I left out "this crams" and "crams shit" since they didn't seem too seasonal.

    December 14, 2007

  • Love it--great idea. Of course you signed them "Mr. Ass Itch," right?

    December 14, 2007

  • Only to friends who knew I was joking...

    December 14, 2007

  • The best kind of friends.

    December 14, 2007

  • Absolutely. Virtual or otherwise...

    Signed, Mr. Ass Itch

    December 14, 2007

  • :-D

    December 14, 2007

  • Speaking of anagrams, have you noticed that "chained bear" can become I had beer can? How about I? A beach nerd? My favorite, though, is brained each. (Well, aside from the obvious chained bare...)

    December 14, 2007

  • Just think of television programming over Christmas. Crams shit is very seasonal.

    December 14, 2007

  • Haha! Chained_bear: The Anagram. Love it!

    I had beer can....

    December 14, 2007

  • So it seems the best anagram of uselessness is "senseless us."

    December 14, 2007

  • Whoa, conserve your monsters there, u! Use less Ness!

    December 14, 2007

  • Touché, bilby...

    December 14, 2007

  • Ummm...I said "I HAD BEER CAN" and "CHAINED BARE."

    *Where are you, c_b? I'm baaaccckkk...*

    December 14, 2007

  • Hmm, I guess they are rather endangered, aren't they? Gosh, now I'll never be able to look at my username the same way again...

    December 14, 2007

  • I don't even know if it's an anagram. More of a cleavagram: I just chopped you into bits, uselessness. Was it ... pleasurable?

    December 14, 2007

  • Morbid, but painless. Don't be coining awesome new words and not linking them, you!!

    December 14, 2007

  • *looking away*

    December 14, 2007

  • Hi skipvia. I see I've been missed. I'm not sure how good a thing that is... :)

    So...? Where's a list of anagrams of "chained_bear"? Hmm? *waits*

    Think about all the cool things you could do (?) with that underscore too. I hereby give permission for the list to include anagrams of the word "underscore."

    Signed, Way Too Freakin' Lazy to Make Her Own. Or wait--was that Has Way Too Many of Her Own Lists Already?

    December 14, 2007

  • *makes note* when cream pies are thrown at The Bear, The Bear prefers not to be missed. Kinky, but as my grandma said, that's the way of a concatenated_ursa.

    December 14, 2007

  • Beach_Rained

    Carbine_Head

    Ache_Brained

    Bean_Chaired

    A Race_Behind

    Cheer_Din, Baa

    Bed_Chi Arena

    Hard_Ice Bean

    Bare_Acne Hid

    Each_Dare Bin

    Be Each_Drain

    Rabid_Cane, Eh

    Earache_Bind

    Benched_Aria

    Behead_Cairn

    A Beach_Diner

    (Okay, so I added spaces and commas liberally. Sue me.)

    December 14, 2007

  • OK..I'll bite.

    Here are some underscore anagrams for:

    reesetee: censor rued

    chained_bear: endorse cur

    sionnach: cure drones

    uselessness: crude señor

    frangarnes: cured señor

    me: course nerd

    seanahan: runs recode (or maybe endures orc...)

    john: our sec nerd

    December 14, 2007

  • I like. A lot. Though I have to wonder how I've struck you as crude...

    December 14, 2007

  • I meant that in the most respectful of ways, U. You're my role model... :)

    December 14, 2007

  • Censor? What censor?

    Carbine_Head! I love it! Now I have a riposte for when c_b calls me Gandhi! :-)

    December 14, 2007

  • Me too! I think Carbine_Head and Bean_Chaired are my favorites. Uselessness, you couldn't have known (could you have?) that one of my nicknames as a wee bear cub was "bean." And look! I grew up to have a job where all I do is sit in chairs!

    And skipvia, you went completely bonkers coming up with anagrams that also match the user. You all went nuts, though--these are some cool-ass anagrams. (By which I mean they are some cool ass-anagrams.)

    December 14, 2007

  • You're right, Carbine_Head. These are definitely some Mascaras Lagoons. I mean Sarcomas Analogs. Or wait...Mascara Goals Son. No, I mean Lasagna Sac Rooms. No, no, I have it: Macaroon Slag Ass.

    December 14, 2007

  • I love "Slag-ass Macaroon!" What a great name for an anagram. Imagine..."That was some slag-ass macaroon you posted today, carbine_head."

    Claim it, reesetee. Quick.

    December 14, 2007

  • I &hearts this page! *tries to hug it*

    December 14, 2007

  • Claimed. Thanks, skipvia. Another few minutes and I'd have been in a real Earache_Bind.

    December 14, 2007

  • While we're still somewhat on the subject, here's a link to Monty Python's anagram sketch. Fun read.

    December 14, 2007

  • Next time you try to hug your computer, c_b, can I...ummm...watch?

    December 14, 2007

  • Skipvia, you scamp!

    December 14, 2007

  • Hang on, I took it c_b's comment to mean anagrams of 'chained underscore bear'. That's going to have thousands of permutations. urine cascaded beer horn might be one of them.

    December 14, 2007

  • Wow, that one's...interesting. :->

    December 14, 2007

  • Hmmm...

    Anaerobic Dunce Herders?

    Burdened Cocaine Sharer?

    Cancerous Reared Behind?

    Caddie Nurse Abhorrence?

    Bread Endurance Heroics?

    Bra Redundancies Cohere?

    Burros Hernia Decadence?

    Reader Heard Concubines?

    Hardened Cubic Reasoner?

    Bacon Researched, Ruined? (OH NO!)

    December 14, 2007

  • Hardened Cubic Reasoner. Yep, that's chained_bear all over. :-P

    December 14, 2007

  • "Anaerobic dunce herders" reminds me of some of my teaching colleagues.

    December 15, 2007

  • Anagrammatically speaking, I am an inviting mad lad.

    December 15, 2007

  • This is the best word page ever.

    bilby, that isn't actually what I meant, but hell, why not?

    reesetee, I was actually thinking more along the lines of "Bra Redundancies Cohere" is me all over.

    December 16, 2007

  • Hmm. Yes...yes, I think you're right, chained_bear. It's definitely you. You're certainly no Burdened Cocaine Sharer, if I may say so.

    December 17, 2007

  • Here's the "anagram hall of fame"

    April 24, 2008

  • Many thanks, oroboros. I haven't laughed that hard in some time.

    April 24, 2008

  • I often forget this word, and apparently so does at least one other person.

    August 29, 2008

  • Anagrams for "Wordie Lists" include these more obvious ones" Wordies List, Weirdos List, Weirdo Lists, Wild Stories, Wild Sorties, and Idlers I Stow.

    January 22, 2009

  • JM wants to share the fact that there is no other word that can be made by rearranging the letters of the word 'anagram'.

    February 1, 2009

  • Anagrams are too funny.. here are my personal favorites of my name:

    A whaleboat jean zips

    A jalapeno beats whiz

    A plaza jawbone heist

    Azaleas jab whine pot

    June 20, 2009

  • Oh no! The Anagram Kid!

    June 1, 2010

  • Oops, I had no idea that this was already going on. Looks like I unknowingly replicated some of these, sorry! Didn't mean to steal!

    April 28, 2011

  • Haha! I was just thinking that skipvia had a list similar to yours, but it must have been this page. Not to worry--you're hardly stealing. :-)

    April 28, 2011

  • There's a Wordnik jail now, so just be careful.

    Go to jail. Go directly to jail..

    April 28, 2011

  • Wow. I hear that you also can't pass go or collect $200.

    April 28, 2011

  • *bites nails* I need that $200 if I'm going to buy Oriental.

    April 29, 2011

  • Here we go... late 16th century.. french Anagramme.

    http://books.google.ca/books?id=4A6qaY-NwjoC

    Ode sur l'anagramme du nom de tresnoble et tresuertueuse dame, Eleonor de Robertet, femme & compaigne de ... François de Mandelot... (Google eBook)

    André Rossant, Coste

    0 Reviews

    1578 - 8 pages

    Eleonor de Robertet

    is an anagram of

    L'or de Bonte te redore.

    April 26, 2013

  • I figure you may never see this skipvia, but I still use your Christmas anagrams every year and they always get a laugh.

    December 25, 2017