An Anagram Brainteaser

Question

An anagram (for the uninitiated) is a word made up of the rearranged letters of another word.

There exists a word that is an anagram of itself. In fact, there exist THREE.

Two show up in the OED, along with the root word of the third.

What are they?

$\begingroup$ Welcome to PSE (Puzzling Stack Exchange)! $\endgroup$
– Will.Octagon.Gibson
Commented Aug 20 at 17:14 — Will.Octagon.Gibson, Commented Aug 20 at 17:14

juicifer · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-20 17:41:29Z

5

The three words in question are

FLIEST (being a superlative, this one does not appear in the OED on its own)
STIFLE
FILETS

These are of course

anagrams of the word ITSELF!

answered Aug 20 at 17:11

juicifer

14.5k1 gold badge55 silver badges85 bronze badges

1

$\begingroup$ OK (in the original meaning of Oll Korrect) except: Filets shows up on an internet search of OED. Fliest does not. $\endgroup$
– Frisky Dingo
Commented Aug 20 at 17:36
2

$\begingroup$ interesting. I didn't double check myself but I assumed the plural would be the least likely to get its own listing (especially since "fliest" wouldn't appear next to "fly"). I'll make a quick edit to set that straight $\endgroup$
– juicifer
Commented Aug 20 at 17:41
1

$\begingroup$ Thems dictionaries love to keep their gates. $\endgroup$
– Frisky Dingo
Commented Aug 20 at 17:43

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1