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I recently noticed that teammate is composed of two anagrams, and was wondering if anyone had any other examples of this, or even better, a name for this phenomenon?

Edwin Ashworth
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Myles
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    'Teammate' is a compound word. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/compound_word – Nigel J Jan 21 '18 at 22:31
  • Perhaps you should look up the word anagram. – Lambie Jan 21 '18 at 22:43
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it seeks a word that is vanishingly likely to exist, and a list of trivia. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 21 '18 at 23:14
  • @Edwin Ashworth: I don't feel "list of trivia" is an accurate description of what I want to know. It is likely to include a list, yes, but I'm intrigued to know if anyone has studied this as they have with other interesting ordering phenomena (e.g. anagrams more widely, palindromes, etc.) – Myles Jan 21 '18 at 23:40
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    @Edwin The likelihood of a whether a requested word exists or not is not a reasonable reason to close a question. List questions are of course off-topic (and I would suggest, Myles, that you edit the question to either make that part an aside or take it out altogether, and also to add in where you’ve looked already to try to find a term for the phenomenon you’re asking about), but asking for a name for the phenomenon is certainly not. The answer is most likely that there isn’t one, but that doesn’t make the question off-topic. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 21 '18 at 23:46
  • Related: Is there a term for a word inside another word? and Matryoshka words – Mari-Lou A Jan 22 '18 at 00:13
  • @Janus Medica's response on Meta includes opinions that SWRs heading towards the fantastical should be close-voted. That is my judgement here. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 22 '18 at 00:16
  • It seems that your question has already been asked before, the question is still open Word to describe the occurrence of two adjacent anagrams You could place a bounty, and see if someone comes up with a definite answer. But... it looks unlikely. – Mari-Lou A Jan 22 '18 at 00:23
  • The answers to these questions might also be helpful What do call embedded words? and What is the name for words which, when the order of letters is reversed, spell other words? – Mari-Lou A Jan 22 '18 at 00:25
  • @EdwinAshworth I’d have to disagree with that. This may not be a common thing, but it doesn’t seem any more fantastical to me than having a word for words with the stress falling five syllables from the end, or for sentences consisting of two ancipites, then a choriamb, then two iambs and an anceps—both of which there are words for (propreantepenult and Phalaecian, respectively). Vocabulary dealing with the structures of words and verses often are fantastically precise and seemingly obscure, and it wouldn’t actually surprise me if there does happen to be a word for this one as well. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 22 '18 at 00:44
  • @Janus The question then arises as to how many people are going to benefit from encountering such real words, also a major factor on ELU. Famously, Chambers 20th Century Dictionary once listed 'mirbane', commenting 'an apparently meaningless word' (though 'oil of mirbane' has been used on rare occasions). One reason to avoid C20CD. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 22 '18 at 09:33

1 Answers1

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"Teammate" is a compound word -- composed of two simpler words. "Team" and "mate" are coincidentally anagrams of each other, but there is no reason for this phenomenon to be "named", as it carries no significance, either in meaning or etymology.

There is probably a slight tendency for such anagram pairs to be joined into a compound word due to the increased likelihood they will have of being assonant with each other (making their use together more likely in idiomatic speech), but this is not what you would call a notable characteristic.

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