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a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
a short, obscure historical or biographical account.
Contemporary Examples

At least by anecdote, they are less common now in an era hyperconscious of harassment.
Early Signs of General Petraeus’s Extramarital Affair John Barry November 10, 2012

Dobbs was unavailable for comment, his spokesman said, but Labe confirmed the anecdote.
Is Lou Dobbs Too Mean to Be President? Lloyd Grove December 2, 2009

“I was not offended by it,” Logan recalls, in an interview Monday night, confirming the anecdote.
The Education of Cathie Black Jacob Bernstein April 7, 2011

In the anecdote, the friend reports attending a nostalgic gathering for veteran Israeli folk dancers.
Who Cares About the Green Line? Mira Sucharov August 4, 2013

In a New Yorker story, John Updike related an anecdote about a grown-up JFK Jr. at a White House reception.
Remembering JFK, Jr. The Daily Beast July 14, 2009

Historical Examples

See his poem, anecdote for Fathers, showing how the practice of lying may be taught.
Children’s Ways James Sully

The old man completed this anecdote in tones that were slightly inflamed.
The Spenders Harry Leon Wilson

Of Hogg himself he said much that was amusing and instructive: one anecdote will not soon be forgotten.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Various

In fact, a large portion of the whole book was built on that anecdote.
The Armourer’s Prentices Charlotte M. Yonge

If you can make a mental picture of an anecdote, you will be apt to remember it with ease.
Memory William Walker Atkinson

noun
a short usually amusing account of an incident, esp a personal or biographical one
n.

1670s, “secret or private stories,” from French anecdote (17c.) or directly from Greek anekdota “things unpublished,” neuter plural of anekdotos, from an- “not” (see an-) + ekdotos “published,” from ek- “out” + didonai “to give” (see date (n.1)).

Procopius’ 6c. Anecdota, unpublished memoirs of Emperor Justinian full of court gossip, gave the word a sense of “revelation of secrets,” which decayed in English to “brief, amusing stories” (1761).