anonymous

See also: Anonymous

English

Etymology

Borrowed into English around 1600 from Late Latin anonymus, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νώνῠμος (ănṓnŭmos, “without name”), from ᾰ̓ν- (ăn-, “un-”) with ὄνῠμᾰ (ónŭmă), Aeolic and Doric dialectal form of ὄνομᾰ (ónomă, “name”). English equivalent anonym +‎ -ous, its full etymology being an- +‎ -onym +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈnɒn.ə.məs/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈnɑ.nə.məs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈnɔn.ə.məs/
• Rhymes: -ɒnəməs

Adjective

anonymous (comparative more anonymous, superlative most anonymous)

1. (not comparable) Lacking a name; not named, for example an animal not assigned to any species (clarification of this definition is needed.).

   Synonym: nameless

   Coordinate term: no-name

2. (not comparable) Without any name acknowledged of a person responsible.

   Antonyms: autonymous, orthonymous

   Coordinate term: pseudonymous

   an anonymous pamphlet

   an anonymous subscription

   anonymous author or painter

3. (not comparable) Of unknown name; whose name is withheld

   Synonyms: unidentified, unknown, unnamed

   an anonymous author

   an anonymous benefactor

   No customer personal data will be retained unless it is rendered anonymous.

   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in The Guardian‎:

     The shift in the balance of power online has allowed anyone to publish to the world, from dispirited teenagers in south London to an anonymous cyber-dissident in a Middle East autocracy.

4. (comparable, figurative) Lacking individuality.

   Synonym: faceless

   an anonymous office block in a soulless industrial estate

Synonyms

• (without consideration of prestige or background): on the merits

Antonyms

• onymous

Derived terms

• anon
• anonym
• anonymous class
• anonymouse
• anonymously
• anonymousness
• anonymous pipe
• anonymous sculpture
• nonanonymous

Related terms

• anomia
• anonymal
• anonymity
• anonymize
• anonymosity
• pseudonymous

Translations

wanting a name, not named and determined

Arabic: مَجْهُول (majhūl) Armenian: անանուն (hy) (ananun) Assamese: নিনাও (ninaü) Belarusian: анані́мны (ananímny), бязыме́нны (bjazymjénny) Breton: dizanv (br) Bulgarian: бези́менен (bg) (bezímenen), анони́мен (bg) (anonímen) Catalan: anònim (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 無名 / 无名 (zh) (wúmíng), 匿名 (zh) (nìmíng) Czech: bezejmenný (cs) m Danish: anonym (da), ukendt (da) Dutch: naamloos (nl), onbenoemd (nl) Esperanto: anonima Faroese: ónevndur Finnish: nimetön (fi) French: anonyme (fr) Galician: anónimo m Georgian: ანონიმური (anonimuri), უსახელო (usaxelo), სახელდაურქმეველი (saxeldaurkmeveli) German: namenlos (de) Greek: ανώνυμος (el) (anónymos) Ancient: ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos) Hindi: अनाम (hi) (anām), अज्ञात (hi) (agyāt) Hungarian: névtelen (hu) Japanese: 無名 (ja) (むめいの, mumei no), 匿名の (ja) (とくめいの, tokumei no) Korean: 익명의 (ko) (ingmyeong'ui), 무명 (ko) (mumyeong) Lithuanian: bevardis Macedonian: бе́зимен (bézimen), анони́мен (anonímen) Manx: neuennymagh Norwegian: Bokmål: anonym (no) Polish: bezimienny (pl) m, anonimowy (pl) Portuguese: anónimo (pt) (Portugal), anônimo (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: anonim (ro) Russian: анони́мный (ru) (anonímnyj), безымя́нный (ru) (bezymjánnyj) Scottish Gaelic: gun urrainn Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: а̏нонӣман Roman: ȁnonīman (sh) Slovak: bezmenný Slovene: anonimen Spanish: anónimo (es) Swedish: anonym (sv), okänd (sv) Turkish: isimsiz (tr), adsız (tr) Ukrainian: аноні́мний (uk) (anonímnyj), безіме́нний (uk) (beziménnyj) Welsh: dienw (cy), anhysbys (cy)

without any name (of responsible agent) acknowledged

Albanian: paemër (sq) Armenian: անանուն (hy) (ananun) Belarusian: безыме́нны (be) (bjezymjénny), безназо́ўны (be) (bjeznazówny) Bulgarian: анони́мен (bg) (anonímen) Catalan: anònim (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 佚名 (zh) (yìmíng) Czech: anonymní (cs) Danish: anonym (da) Dutch: naamloos (nl), anoniem (nl) Esperanto: anonima, sennoma Finnish: nimetön (fi) French: anonyme (fr) Georgian: ანონიმური (anonimuri) German: anonym (de) Greek: ανώνυμος (el) (anónymos) Hebrew: אַלְמוֹנִי (he) m (almoní), אנונימי (anoními) Interlingua: anonyme Italian: anonimo (it) Lithuanian: bevardis Macedonian: бе́зимен (bézimen), анони́мен (anonímen) Manx: neuennymagh Polish: anonimowy (pl), bezimienny (pl) Portuguese: anónimo (pt), anônimo (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: anonim (ro) Russian: безымя́нный (ru) (bezymjánnyj) Scottish Gaelic: gun urrainn Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: а̏нонӣман Roman: ȁnonīman (sh) Slovene: anonimen Spanish: anónimo (es) Swedish: anonym (sv) Turkish: anonim (tr), isimsiz (tr), adsız (tr) Ukrainian: безіме́нний (uk) (beziménnyj) Vietnamese: vô danh (vi), ẩn danh, nặc danh (vi) Welsh: dienw (cy)

of unknown name; whose name is withheld

Albanian: paemër (sq) Arabic: مَجْهُول (majhūl) Armenian: անանուն (hy) (ananun) Bulgarian: анони́мен (bg) (anonímen) Catalan: anònim (ca) Czech: anonymní (cs) Danish: anonym (da) Dutch: naamloos (nl), anoniem (nl) Esperanto: anonima, sennoma Finnish: anonyymi (fi) French: anonyme (fr) Georgian: ანონიმური (anonimuri) German: anonym (de) Greek: ανώνυμος (el) (anónymos) Hungarian: névtelen (hu) Indonesian: please add this translation if you can Interlingua: anonyme Italian: anonimo (it) Lithuanian: bevardis Macedonian: анони́мен (anonímen), неи́звесен (neízvesen) Malay: tidak bernama Manx: neuennymagh Polish: anonimowy (pl) m, bezimienny (pl) Portuguese: anónimo (pt) (Portugal), anônimo (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: anonim (ro) Scottish Gaelic: gun urrainn Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: а̏нонӣман Roman: ȁnonīman (sh) Slovak: anonymný Slovene: anonimen Spanish: anónimo (es) Swedish: anonym (sv), anonymiserad (sv) Vietnamese: vô danh (vi), ẩn danh, nặc danh (vi), giấu tên

lacking individuality

Esperanto: anonima Finnish: nimetön (fi) French: anonyme (fr) m or f Interlingua: anonyme Italian: anonimo (it) Polish: anonimowy (pl), bezimienny (pl) Portuguese: anónimo (pt), anônimo (pt) (Brazil) Spanish: anónimo (es)

without consideration of prestige, title, rank or background

Esperanto: anonima French: anonyme (fr) m or f Interlingua: anonyme Italian: anonimo (it) Portuguese: anónimo (pt), anônimo (pt) (Brazil) Spanish: anónimo (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bengali: (please verify) অনামিকা (bn) (onamika) Telugu: (please verify) అనామిక (te) (anāmika)

See also

• anonymous on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• John Doe
• unknown

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “anonymous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “anonymous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.