You are probably familiar with an anagram, one of the most popular forms of word play that recombines all the letters of a word or phrase to create a new word or phrase. For example, “inch” is an anagram of “chin.” The anagram, of course, is at the heart of board games like Scrabble, Clabbers, Boggle, and Bananagrams and puzzles like Jumble and Cryptic Crosswords. An antigram is a type of anagram that is the antonym of the original word or phrase. A classic example of an antigram is “Santa = Satan.” Another one is “funeral = real fun” — which always lightens the mood at a gloomy funeral. Below are examples of antigrams:
adultery = true lady
adversaries = are advisers
butchers = cut herbs
customers = store scum
earliest = arrise late
evangelist = evil’s agent
filled = ill-fed
fluster = restful
funeral = real fun
honestly = on the sly
infection = fine tonic
militarism = I limit arms
misfortune = it’s more fun
protectionism = nice to imports
Santa = Satan
silent = listen
united = untied
violence = nice love
ENJOY THE BOOK. If you love reading Atkins Bookshelf, you will love reading the book — Serendipitous Discoveries from the Bookshelf. The beautifully-designed book (416 pages) is a celebration of literature, books, fascinating English words and phrases, inspiring quotations, literary trivia, and valuable life lessons. It’s the perfect gift for book lovers and word lovers.
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Read related posts: Levidrome: The Word That Launched a Thousand Erroneous Stories
What is a Semordnilap?
What is a Phantonym?
What is the Longest Word in English Language?
Word Oddities: Fun with Vowels
What is an Abecedarian Insult?
Difficult Tongue Twisters
Rare Anatomy Words
What Rhymes with Orange?
Words with Letters in Alphabetical Order
For further reading: The Game of Words by Willard Espy
Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature by C. C. Tombaugh edited and annotated by Martin Gardner
A Word of Day by Anu Garg
Wordplay: A Curious Dictionary of Language Oddities by Chris Cole
The Dictionary of Wordplay by Dave Morice
A Treasury of Words & Wordplay by Richard Whiteley
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Hey, Alex. I enjoy this type of wordplay! Speaking of arriving late… (mid-June harking back to mid-March) Just thought I might mention you have “earliest = arrive late,” which caused a double-take from me. First I thought, “Earliest does not have two r’s”… “and no ‘v'”… I finally surmised that it must have been meant to read “earliest = arise late.” N’est-ce pas?
Hi Ed: Glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks so much for catching that typo — an example of the Cupertino Effect. 😉 Thanks for your continued support of Bookshelf. Cheers. Alex