An anecdote is a short story with a point, most often told to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place or thing through the concrete details of the narrative, or to bring out a specific quirk or trait by showing it rather than stating it directly.
Facts
Place of OriginByzantine Empire; the word comes from Procopius of Caesarea, biographer of Emperor Justinian I, whose Anekdota (Unpublished Memoirs / Secret History, c. 550 CE) gave the term its origin. 1 Defining TraitA story with a point, used to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative. 1 Sources
1. Anecdote (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative
Etymology and usage section
The word anecdote (in Greek: ἀνέκδοτον "unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527-565).
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