Etymology
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anonymous (adj.)

c. 1600, "without a name;" 1670s, "published under no name, of unknown authorship," from Late Latin anonymus, from Greek anonymos "without a name," from an- "without" (see an- (1)) + onyma, Æolic dialectal form of onoma "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name").

Entries linking to anonymous

an- (1)
privative prefix, from Greek an-, "not, without," from PIE root *ne- "not"). The Greek prefix is a fuller form of the one represented in English by a- (3).
*no-men- 

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "name."

It forms all or part of: acronym; allonym; ananym; anonymous; antonomasia; antonym; binomial; caconym; cognomen; denominate; eponym; eponymous; heteronym; homonym; homonymous; hyponymy; ignominious; ignominy; innominable; Jerome; matronymic; metonymy; metronymic; misnomer; moniker; name; nomenclature; nominal; nominate; noun; onomastic; onomatopoeia; paronomasia; paronym; patronym; patronymic; praenomen; pronoun; pseudonym; renown; synonym; synonymy; synonymous; toponym.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit nama; Avestan nama; Greek onoma, onyma; Latin nomen; Old Church Slavonic ime, genitive imene; Russian imya; Old Irish ainm; Old Welsh anu "name;" Old English nama, noma, Old High German namo, Old Norse nafn, Gothic namo "name."

updated on January 12, 2018

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Definitions of anonymous from WordNet

anonymous (adj.)
having no known name or identity or known source;
an anonymous gift
anonymous authors
anonymous donors
Synonyms: anon.
anonymous (adj.)
not known or lacking marked individuality;
brown anonymous houses
anonymous bureaucrats in the Civil Service
From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

Dictionary entries near anonymous

anomphalous

anomy

anon

anonym

anonymity

anonymous

anonymously

Anopheles

anorak

anorectic

anorexia

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper