ana

¹

[ an-uh, ah-nuh ]

noun

1. a collection of miscellaneous information about a particular subject, person, place, or thing.
2. an item in such a collection, as an anecdote, a memorable saying, etc.

ana

²

[ an-uh ]

adverb

1. (of ingredients in pharmaceutical prescriptions) in equal quantities; of each. : a̅a̅, āa

ana-

³

1. a prefix in loanwords from Greek, where it means “up,” “against,” “back,” “re-”: anabasis; used in the formation of compound words: anacardiaceous.

-ana

⁴

1. a suffix that forms collective nouns denoting an assembly of items, as household objects, art, books, or maps, or a description of such items, as a bibliography, all of which are representative of or associated with the place, person, or period named by the stem:

   Americana; Shakespeareana; Victoriana.

A.N.A.

⁵

or ANA

abbreviation for

1. American Newspaper Association.
2. American Nurses Association.
3. Association of National Advertisers.

Ana

¹

/ ˈænə /

noun

1. 1. a name for anorexia, esp when used as a personification of the disease by its sufferers
   2. a person who identifies himself or herself as an anorexic

adjective

1. anorexic

ana

²

/ ˈɑːnə /

noun

1. a collection of reminiscences, sketches, etc, of or about a person or place
2. an item of or for such a collection

ANA

³

abbreviation for

1. Article Number Association: (in Britain) an organization of manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers that provides a system ( article numbering ) by which a product is identified by a unique machine-readable number compatible with article-numbering systems used in other countries

ana-

⁴

prefix

1. up; upwards

   anadromous

2. again

   anagram

3. back; backwards

   anatropous

ana

⁵

/ ˈeɪnə; ˈɑːnə /

adverb

1. obsolete.
   pharmacol (of ingredients in a prescription) in equal quantities aa

-ana

⁶

suffix forming nouns

1. denoting a collection of objects or information relating to a particular individual, subject, or place

   Victoriana

   Americana

   Shakespeareana

Word History and Origins

Origin of ana¹

First recorded in 1720–30; independent use of -ana

Origin of ana²

1490–1500; < Medieval Latin < Greek aná of each

Origin of ana³

From Greek, combining form of aná; no necessary relation to on

Origin of ana⁴

< Latin, neuter plural of -ānus -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of ana¹

C21: a play on the word anorexia and the girl's name Anna

Origin of ana²

C18: independent use of -ana

Origin of ana³

from Greek ana

Origin of ana⁴

C16: via Medieval Latin from Greek: of every one similarly

Origin of ana⁵

New Latin, from Latin -āna, literally: matters relating to, neuter plural of -ānus; see -an

Example Sentences

So I trusted in linguistic common sense, left out the verb, and made it ana libbi bābi "into the gate," pretty much like the English.

From Salon

There is evidence too of children searching for so-called "ana buddies" - others who can help them make their illness more extreme.

From BBC

The “-ana” came only later, appended with wistful retrospection.

From New York Times

Blind ana­lysis forces creative thinking as researchers struggle to find explanations for hypothetical results.

From Nature

“I am passing on your email to ana navarro who just came on as our immigration lawyer/advisor,” Mr. Bush replied to a constituent in an email on Jan. 31, 1999.

From New York Times

Related Words

• oeuvre