Fun with Anagrams

There are many games out there that allow you to have fun with anagrams online. This gameplay style has branched into several different varieties, evolving into a category under which is quite a lineup of games.

Historically, people have been enjoying themselves with anagrams for thousands of years. Those who could read and write would strive to find hidden meanings within words and either unlock secrets or create poetry while using anagrams, dating back to at least the third century BC.

Whatever purposes people had for using anagrams, they evolved into a word game by the time the Victorian years hit. Soon after, anagrams were used to teach spelling to children, crafting new words from existing words.

What are Anagrams?

Anagrams are words made up of letters rearranged from an existing word. Some examples of anagrams that recent generations might be familiar with are games like “Scrabble,” “Boggle,” “WordShop,” “Bananagrams,” and “Jumble,” to name a few.

But there are older games that launched back in the 1800s to early 1900s, like “Word Making and Taking,” the “Anagrams” game, “Spelling and Anagrams,” and finally “The Game of Letters and Anagrams on Wooden Blocks.”

Today, most anagram games are played online via Flash or browser games when not being played at family functions or parties.

How Anagrams Work

Anagrams only work when letters can be repurposed into different words. If you’re creating a list of different words from one existing word, letters can be reused from word to word but not within the same word.

For example, if you take the word “delineate” and try to create new words out of letters that make up the word, you can rearrange them to create new words like dateline, lineate, latened, tail-end, entailed, and detainee (among others). Though the same letters are being repurposed for each word, they are not being duplicated within the word.

Types of Anagrams

There are dozens of different types of anagrams. Though several have existed for quite some time, many more have emerged since computers entered the scene. The following are some of the most popular.

• Simple Anagrams: These are the same as what was described above.
• Antigrams: In an antigram, the opposite meaning of the original word (or words) is what can be created. Any other word doesn’t matter or count. Think of them as creating an antonym from the original word.
• Cognate Anagrams: This is the opposite of antigrams. With cognate anagrams, the created word’s meaning must reflect the original’s meaning.

Anagram Examples:

The following are some examples of the anagram types mentioned above. This is not a comprehensive list of every word that can be created from the original, but just enough to get the idea.

Simple Anagram: Creating new random words.

Flounder: Unfold, enfold, nodule, fouled, floured, refund, fondu, round, freon, felon, four, and feud.

Antigram: Creating an antonym from the word.

Silent: Listen

Despair: Praised

Antagonist: Not Against

Earliest: Arise Late

Inferno: Non-Fire

Violence: Nice Love

Cognate Anagrams: Creating a word synonymous with the existing word.

Enraged: Angered

Drawer: Reward