An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once.[1] For example, the word anagram itself can be rearranged into nag a ram, also the word binary into brainy and the word adobe into abode.

Animation for the anagram "Listen = Silent"

The original word or phrase is known as the subject of the anagram. Any word or phrase that exactly reproduces the letters in another order is an anagram. Someone who creates anagrams may be called an "anagrammatist",[2] and the goal of a serious or skilled anagrammatist is to produce anagrams that reflect or comment on their subject.


Anagrams may be created as a commentary on the subject. They may be a parody, a criticism or satire. For example:

An anagram may also be a synonym of the original word. For example:

  • "evil" = "vile"
  • "a gentleman" = "elegant man"
  • "eleven plus two" = "twelve plus one"

An anagram that has a meaning opposed to that of the original word or phrase is called an "antigram".[3] For example:

They can sometimes change from a proper noun or personal name into an appropriate sentence:

They can change part of speech, such as the adjective "silent" to the verb "listen".

"Anagrams" itself can be anagrammatized as "Ars magna" (Latin, 'the great art').[4]


Anagrams can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks, and were used to find the hidden and mystical meaning in names.[5] They were popular throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, for example with the poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut.[6] They are said to date back at least to the Greek poet Lycophron, in the third century BCE; but this relies on an account of Lycophron given by John Tzetzes in the 12th century.[7]

In the Talmudic and Midrashic literature, anagrams were used to interpret the Hebrew Bible, notably by Eleazar of Modi'im. Later, Kabbalists took this up with enthusiasm, calling anagrams temurah.[8]

Anagrams in Latin were considered witty over many centuries. Est vir qui adest, explained below, was cited as the example in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language. They became hugely popular in the early modern period, especially in Germany.[9]

Any historical material on anagrams must always be interpreted in terms of the assumptions and spellings that were current for the language in question. In particular, spelling in English only slowly became fixed. There were attempts to regulate anagram formation, an important one in English being that of George Puttenham's Of the Anagram or Posy Transposed in The Art of English Poesie (1589).

Influence of LatinEdit

As a literary game when Latin was the common property of the literate, Latin anagrams were prominent.[10] Two examples are the change of Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum (Latin: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord [is] with you) into Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata (Latin: Serene virgin, pious, clean and spotless), and the anagrammatic answer to Pilate's question, Quid est veritas? (Latin: What is truth?), namely, Est vir qui adest (Latin: It is the man who is here). The origins of these are not documented.

Latin continued to influence letter values (such as I = J, U = V and W = VV). There was an ongoing tradition of allowing anagrams to be "perfect" if the letters were all used once, but allowing for these interchanges. This can be seen in a popular Latin anagram against the Jesuits: Societas Jesu turned into Vitiosa seces (Latin: Cut off the wicked things). Puttenham, in the time of Elizabeth I, wished to start from Elissabet Anglorum Regina (Latin: Elizabeth Queen of the English), to obtain Multa regnabis ense gloria (Latin: By thy sword shalt thou reign in great renown); he explains carefully that H is "a note of aspiration only and no letter", and that Z in Greek or Hebrew is a mere SS. The rules were not completely fixed in the 17th century. William Camden in his Remains commented, singling out some letters—Æ, K, W, and Z—not found in the classical Roman alphabet:[11]


— William Camden, Remains

Early modern periodEdit

When it comes to the 17th century and anagrams in English or other languages, there is a great deal of documented evidence of learned interest. The lawyer Thomas Egerton was praised through the anagram gestat honorem ('he carries honor'); the physician George Ent took the anagrammatic motto genio surget ('he rises through spirit/genius'), which requires his first name as Georgius.[12] James I's courtiers discovered in "James Stuart" "a just master", and converted "Charles James Stuart" into "Claims Arthur's seat" (even at that point in time, the letters I and J were more-or-less interchangeable). Walter Quin, tutor to the future Charles I, worked hard on multilingual anagrams on the name of father James.[13] A notorious murder scandal, the Overbury case, threw up two imperfect anagrams that were aided by typically loose spelling and were recorded by Simonds D'Ewes: "Francis Howard" (for Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset, her maiden name spelled in a variant) became "Car findes a whore", with the letters E hardly counted, and the victim Thomas Overbury, as "Thomas Overburie", was written as "O! O! a busie murther" (an old form of "murder"), with a V counted as U.[14][15]

William Drummond of Hawthornden, in an essay On the Character of a Perfect Anagram, tried to lay down rules for permissible substitutions (such as S standing for Z) and letter omissions.[16] William Camden[17] provided a definition of "Anagrammatisme" as "a dissolution of a name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense appliable (i.e., applicable) to the person named." Dryden in MacFlecknoe disdainfully called the pastime the "torturing of one poor word ten thousand ways".[18]

"Eleanor Audeley", wife of Sir John Davies, is said to have been brought before the High Commission[clarification needed] in 1634 for extravagances, stimulated by the discovery that her name could be transposed to "Reveale, O Daniel", and to have been laughed out of court by another anagram submitted by Sir John Lambe, the dean of the Arches, "Dame Eleanor Davies", "Never soe mad a ladie".[19][20]

An example from France was a flattering anagram for Cardinal Richelieu, comparing him to Hercules or at least one of his hands (Hercules being a kingly symbol), where Armand de Richelieu became Ardue main d'Hercule ("difficult hand of Hercules").[21]

Modern periodEdit

Examples from the 19th century are the transposition of "Horatio Nelson" into Honor est a Nilo (Latin: Honor is from the Nile); and of "Florence Nightingale" into "Flit on, cheering angel".[22] The Victorian love of anagramming as recreation is alluded to by the mathematician Augustus De Morgan[23] using his own name as an example; "Great Gun, do us a sum!" is attributed to his son William De Morgan, but a family friend John Thomas Graves was prolific, and a manuscript with over 2,800 has been preserved.[24][25][26]




Establishment of priorityEdit

Natural philosophers (astronomers and others) of the 17th century transposed their discoveries into Latin anagrams, to establish their priority. In this way they laid claim to new discoveries before their results were ready for publication.

Galileo used smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras for Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi (Latin: I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form) for discovering the rings of Saturn in 1610.[29][30] Galileo announced his discovery that Venus had phases like the Moon in the form Haec immatura a me iam frustra leguntur oy (Latin: These immature ones have already been read in vain by me -oy), that is, when rearranged, Cynthiae figuras aemulatur Mater Amorum (Latin: The Mother of Loves [= Venus] imitates the figures of Cynthia [= the moon]). In both cases, Johannes Kepler had solved the anagrams incorrectly, assuming they were talking about the Moons of Mars (Salve, umbistineum geminatum Martia proles) and a red spot on Jupiter (Macula rufa in Jove est gyratur mathem), respectively.[31] By coincidence, he turned out to be right about the actual objects existing.

In 1656, Christiaan Huygens, using a better telescope than those available to Galileo, figured that Galileo's earlier observations of Saturn actually meant it had a ring (Galileo's tools were only sufficient to see it as bumps) and, like Galileo, had published an anagram, aaaaaacccccdeeeeeghiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu. Upon confirming his observations, three years later he revealed it to mean Annulo cingitur, tenui, plano, nusquam coherente, ad eclipticam inclinato (Latin: It [Saturn] is surrounded by a thin, flat, ring, nowhere touching, inclined to the ecliptic).[32]

An animation of an anagram related to Loch Ness Monster

When Robert Hooke discovered Hooke's law in 1660, he first published it in anagram form, ceiiinosssttuv, for ut tensio, sic vis (Latin: as the extension, so the force).[33]

In a related use, from 1975, British naturalist Sir Peter Scott coined the scientific term Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Greek: The monster (or wonder) of Ness with the diamond-shaped fin) for the apocryphal Loch Ness Monster.[34] Shortly afterwards, several London newspapers pointed out that Nessiteras rhombopteryx anagrams into Monster hoax by Sir Peter S. However, Robert Rines, who previously made two underwater photographs allegedly showing the monster, countered that they can also be arranged into Yes, both pix are monsters, R.[35]


Anagrams are connected to pseudonyms, by the fact that they may conceal or reveal, or operate somewhere in between like a mask that can establish identity. For example, Jim Morrison used an anagram of his name in the Doors song "L.A. Woman", calling himself "Mr. Mojo Risin'".[36] The use of anagrams and fabricated personal names may be to circumvent restrictions on the use of real names, as happened in the 18th century when Edward Cave wanted to get around restrictions imposed on the reporting of the House of Commons.[37] In a genre such as farce or parody, anagrams as names may be used for pointed and satiric effect.





  • Homer Hickam, Jr.'s book Rocket Boys was adapted into the 1999 film October Sky.[39]
  • The tapes for the revival of the BBC show Doctor Who were labeled with the anagram Torchwood, which later went on to be used as the name for a spin-off show. In multi-episode shows, the program occasionally substitutes the anagram of an actor's name for the actual name to prevent revealing the true identity of the role (for instance, The Master) being played by the actor.
  • The New Wave band Missing Persons' best-selling album was called Spring Session M.
  • Hip-hop artist MF Doom recorded a 2004 album called Mm..Food.
  • Brian Eno's album Before and After Science includes a song entitled "King's Lead Hat", an anagram of "Talking Heads", a band Eno has worked with.
  • Juan Maria Solare's piano ballad "Jura ser anomalía" (literally "he/she swears to be an anomaly") is an anagram of the composer's full name. His composition for English horn titled "A Dot in Time" is an anagram of "Meditation", which describes the piece. The title of his piano piece that is a homage to Claude Debussy is "Seduce Us Badly".
  • Bill Evans's overdubbed piano elegy for fellow jazz pianist Sonny Clark is titled "N.Y.C.'s No Lark," and another composition, "Re: Person I Knew" is a tribute to his producer, Orrin Keepnews.
  • The title of Imogen Heap's album iMegaphone is an anagram of her name.
  • Progressive rock group Rush published a song off their 1989 album Presto titled "Anagram (for Mongo)" that makes use of anagrams in every line of their song.
  • The title of the fifth album by American rock band Interpol, El Pintor, is an anagram of the band's name and also Spanish for "the painter".
  • Many of the song titles on Aphex Twin's ...I Care Because You Do are anagrams of either "Aphex Twin", "The Aphex Twin", or "Richard D James".
  • In Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke played Mr. Dawes, Sr., as the anagram of his name, Navckid Keyd. In the credits, the words unscrambled themselves to reveal his name.
  • The title of King Crimson's 1982 song Thela Hun Ginjeet is an anagram of "heat in the jungle".


Name is Anu Garg = Anagram Genius

In Hebrew, the name "Gernot Zippe" (גרנוט ציפה), the inventor of the Zippe-type centrifuge, is an anagram of the word "centrifuge" (צנטריפוגה). The anagrammer Anu Garg's name results in: "Anagram genius" = "Name is Anu Garg."[40]

Games and puzzlesEdit



  • In a version of Scrabble called Clabbers, the name itself is an anagram of Scrabble. Tiles may be placed in any order on the board as long as they anagram to a valid word.


Multiple anagramming is a technique used to solve some kinds of cryptograms, such as a permutation cipher, a transposition cipher, and the Jefferson disk.[41] Solutions may be computationally found using a Jumble algorithm.

Methods of constructionEdit

Sometimes, it is possible to "see" anagrams in words, unaided by tools, though the more letters involved the more difficult this becomes. The difficulty is that for a word of n different letters, there are n! (factorial of n) different permutations and so n!-1 different anagrams of the word. Anagram dictionaries can also be used. Computer programs, known as "anagram search", "anagram servers", "anagram solvers", offer a much faster route to creating anagrams, and a large number of these programs are available on the Internet.[42][43] Some programs use the Anatree algorithm to compute anagrams efficiently.


Some anagrammatists indicate the method they used. Anagrams constructed without the aid of a computer are noted as having been done "manually" or "by hand"; those made by utilizing a computer may be noted "by machine" or "by computer", or may indicate the name of the computer program (using Anagram Genius).


Prominent anagrammatistsEdit

The French king Louis XIII had a man named Thomas Billen appointed as his Royal Anagrammatist with an annual salary of 1200 pounds.[44] Among contemporary anagrammers, Anu Garg, created an Internet Anagram Server in 1994 together with the satirical anagram-based newspaper The Anagram Times. Mike Keith has anagrammed the complete text of Moby Dick.[45] He, along with Richard Brodie, has published The Anagrammed Bible that includes anagrammed version of many books of the Bible.[46] Popular television personality Dick Cavett is known for his anagrams of famous celebrities such as Alec Guinness and Spiro Agnew.[47]

Anagram animationEdit

A computer-generated anagram animation

An animated anagram displays the letters of a word or phrase moving into their new positions.

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ "anagram". HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  2. ^ Anagrammatist, Retrieved on 12 August 2008.
  3. ^ "antigram". Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Ars Magna". PBS. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2017. This Emmy-nominated short enters the obsessive and fascinating world of anagrams. [Original article's link to video is dead, but link in archived article works.]
  6. ^ Guillaume de Machaut, "Here of a Sunday Morning", WBAI
  8. ^ Isaac Broydé, "Anagram " in Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 full text
  9. ^ "Secrets of a Lost Art, part 1: Latin Anagrams - in Medias Res". 6 May 2018.
  12. ^ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1889). "ENT, SIR GEORGE, M.D. (1604–1689)". Dictionary of National Biography. XVII (1st ed.). Smith, Elder & Co. p. 377. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  13. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "QUIN, WALTER (1575?–1634?)". Dictionary of National Biography. XLVII (1st ed.). Smith, Elder & Co. p. 111. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  14. ^ Early Stuart Libels
  15. ^ Early Stuart Libels
  16. ^ Henry Benjamin Wheatley, On Anagrams (1862), p. 58.
  17. ^ Remains, 7th ed., 1674.
  18. ^

    Thy genius calls thee not to purchase fame
    In keen iambics, but mild anagram:
    Leave writing plays, and choose for thy command
    Some peaceful province in acrostic land.
    There thou may'st wings display and altars raise,
    And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.

  19. ^ Oxford Book of Word Games
  22. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Anagram" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 910.
  23. ^ In his A Budget of Paradoxes, p. 82.
  26. ^ "AIM25 home page". Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  30. ^ "Galileo's Anagrams and the Moons of Mars". Math Pages: History. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  31. ^ "Galileo, Kepler, & Two Anagrams: Two Wrong Solutions Turn into Two Correct Solutions". Judge Starling.
  32. ^ Campbell, John W., Jr. (April 1937). "Notes". Beyond the Life Line. Astounding Stories. pp. 81–85.
  33. ^ Gjertsen, Derek (1986). The Newton Handbook. Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 16. ISBN 9780710202796.
  34. ^ Scott, Peter; Rines, Robert (December 1975). "Naming the Loch Ness monster". Nature. 258 (5535): 466–468. Bibcode:1975Natur.258..466S. doi:10.1038/258466a0.
  35. ^ "Monster Hoax?". New Scientist. Vol. 68 no. 980. 18 December 1975. p. 739.
  36. ^ "Mr Mojo Risin'". BBC Radio 2. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  37. ^ "Institute of Historical Research (IHR) home page". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  38. ^ I, Lucifer (Glen Duncan)
  39. ^ Lundin, Leigh (29 November 2009). "Anagrams". Word Play. Criminal Brief.
  40. ^ "The Anagram Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  41. ^ Bletchley Park Cryptographic Dictionary. Retrieved on 2014-05-12.
  42. ^ "anagram search engine". Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  43. ^ "internet anagram server". Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  44. ^ Southey, Robert (1865). "CLXXIX". The Doctor, Etc. Longman, Greens, and Co. p. 467.
  45. ^ "Anagram by Mike Keith".
  46. ^ "The Anagrammed Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon: Keith, Michael, Brodie, Richard: 9780963009722: Books".
  47. ^ Williams, Alex (4 August 2018). "Dick Cavett's Best Outtakes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2019.

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit