🇺🇸
/ˈænə/
🇺🇸
/ˈænə/
🇬🇧
/ˈænə/
🇬🇧
/ˈænə/
Plural
anas
'Ana' is a rare, informal abbreviation for 'anagram'—a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase, using all original letters exactly once. It's commonly used in cryptic crosswords, word games, and linguistics circles; for example, 'listen' and 'silent' are anas of each other.
The crossword clue 'Astronomer's anagram (9)' led to the answer 'moon starer'.
She quickly spotted that 'the eyes' was an ana of 'they see'.
In Scrabble tournaments, players sometimes use 'ana' as shorthand when discussing letter permutations.
His love of wordplay meant he could generate dozens of valid anas from a single nine-letter word.
The puzzle master challenged us: 'Find the ana of 'dormitory' — and yes, it's a real English word!'
ana-
Comes from the Greek prefix 'ana-' (ἀνά), meaning 'up', 'back', 'again', or 'throughout'. It often conveys upward motion, repetition, reversal, or distribution. Examples include anagram (letters rearranged 'back' or 'again'), analysis (breaking 'up' into parts), anatomy (cutting 'up' the body), anachronism (time displaced 'back' or 'out of order'), and anaphora (repetition 'back' at the start of clauses).