anecdotal

Etymology

It is formed from English anecdote + -al.^[2][3][4] Anecdote is from French anecdote, or directly from Medieval Latin anecdota,^[3][2] from Ancient Greek ἀνέκδοτα (anékdota, “things unpublished”), the neuter plural of ἀνέκδοτος (anékdotos, “unpublished”),^[2][3] formed from ἀν- (an-, “not”) and ἔκδοτος (ékdotos, “given out, published”).^[2][3] Procopius gave the name to his unpublished memoirs of the Emperor Justinian, full of court gossip.^[3][2] The OED notes that the adjective with the sense of art compares with the earlier anecdotic.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to or consisting of anecdotes, or given to telling them: 1715, in a letter to the antiquary Ralph Thoresby.^[2][5] The dictionaries disagree on the date: Merriam-Webster gives 1747,^[6] Etymonline 1794, noting that anecdotical is recorded from 1744,^[3] and Dictionary.com 1830–40.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the change in anecdote, which first meant secret or private history and only in the 18th century a short, amusing story.^[3][2] In art criticism it was used from 1870 of painting that depicts small narrative incidents.^[2][5] From 1889 it was applied to evidence, usually medical or scientific, based on reports of single cases rather than systematic study,^[2] and this is now a main sense, often with a suggestion that such evidence is unreliable.^[7][6]

Timeline

• 1715 – relating to or consisting of anecdotes; fond of telling them.^[2][5]
• 1870 – art: depicting small narrative incidents.^[2][5]
• 1889 – of evidence: based on individual reports rather than systematic research.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Based on personal accounts or reports of single cases rather than careful research or controlled study: Most of the support for the remedy is anecdotal.^[7][6][2]
2. Relating to, consisting of or containing anecdotes: an anecdotal history of the town.^[6][2]
3. Given to or skilled in telling anecdotes.^[6][2]
4. Art: depicting small narrative incidents.^[2]

Word family

• anecdotalist
• anecdotally
• anecdotalism

Related words

• anecdote
• anecdotic
• anecdotage

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins