Word of the Day

: November 25, 2007

anent

preposition uh-NENT

What It Means

: about, concerning

anent in Context

"Anent the article about the recent political scandal: we've heard enough already!" began Jamil's letter to the editor.

Did You Know?

"Anent" looks like a rather old-fashioned word. It is, in fact, very old (an earlier sense of the word can be found in Beowulf, from approximately 800 A.D.), and at one point it was almost obsolete. It had nearly died out by the 17th century, but it was revived in the 19th century. Various usage commentators have decried "anent" as "affected" and "archaic." It is not archaic, however. Although "anent" is rarely found in speech, plenty of examples of current use can be found in written sources. Dead words do occasionally rise from the grave, and "anent" is one of them.