Words which are the same spelt backwards or forwards

  • Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date
  • Views : 1,714,043
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Anonymous

Guest
What is it called when you can take a word and spell it foward and backward and it's still the same word? Like... bob

Thanks
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
That would be a palindromic word, like noon, which is not only the same spelled forwards as backwards, but also is the same upside down (when spelled in all caps).

:)
 
C

croaker78

Guest
hello

RonBee said:
That would be a palindromic word, like noon, which is not only the same spelled forwards as backwards, but also is the same upside down (when spelled in all caps).

:)
sorry but i am not agree with you
 

Red5

Webmaster, UsingEnglish.com
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Re: hello

croaker78 said:
sorry but i am not agree with you

Ron is correct. :roll:

PS - Say: Sorry, but I do not agree with you. :wink:
 

Casiopea

VIP Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2003
Member Type
Other
kate said:
What is it called when you can take a word and spell it foward and backward and it's still the same word? Like... bob

Thanks

:D palindrome :D

---------------------------
moderatotism
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
A palindrome for overworked restaurant staff:

Stressed- no tips- spit on desserts

;-)
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Re: hello

croaker78 said:
RonBee said:
That would be a palindromic word, like noon, which is not only the same spelled forwards as backwards, but also is the same upside down (when spelled in all caps).

:)
sorry but i am not agree with you

A palindrome is a word (or phrase) that is spelled the same forwards as backwards. (Check the glossary.) The original poster gave bob as an example. Spell bob backwards and you get bob. The example given in the glossary is madam. A well-known palindromic phrase is Madam, I'm Adam. (Punctuation and capitalization is ignored.)

:D

(Say: "Sorry, but I do not agree with you.")

:D
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
  • The word palindrome is derived from the Greek palíndromos, meaning running back again (palín = AGAIN + drom–, drameîn = RUN). A palindrome is a word or phrase which reads the same in both directions. Some simple examples are:

    RACECAR
    DEED
    LEVEL
    PIP
    ROTOR
    CIVIC
    POP
    MADAM
    EYE
    NUN
    RADAR
    TOOT

    Words like LIVE and STRAW (which read EVIL and WARTS backwards) are not themselves palindromes but the "phrases" LIVE EVIL and STRAW WARTS are. A palindrome is not necessarily a single word.
    http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_explain.html
Lists of palindromes:
http://www.palindromelist.com/
http://www.derf.net/palindromes/old.palindrome.html
http://www.bonus.com/bonus/card/palindrome.html
http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_example.html
http://thinks.com/words/palindromes.htm
http://puzzles.about.com/cs/palindromes/
http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_explain.html
http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Words_and_Wordplay/Palindromes/
http://home.earthlink.net/~jesmith/Palindrome.html
http://complex.gmu.edu/neural/personnel/ernie/witty/palindromes.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/archives/96-11/0148.html
http://bach.dynet.com/palin/
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Oh ho!

:wink:
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
It's quite some sentence. ;-)
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
For a waiter or waitress:

Stressed, no tips? Spit on desserts

;-)
 
D

Dan Pulju

Guest
There once was a man named Dan. He was wise and attracted many followers. They all lived near him and became known as Dan's clan.
The government feared the Clan of Dan for their enlightened wisdom, and plotted their downfall. They passed laws and soon the Clan of Dan was exiled to live by the river. There they had plenty of water, however.
The government saw that they had water and plotted some more. They evicted the Clan of Dan from its land, forcing it to move far from the river.
But the members of the clan were wise, and they dug a trench from the river to their new land.
Then the government passed a new law that forbade the Clan of Dan from taking any water anywhere in the state. So they dug the trench all the way north to the Canadian border, and the Canadian government promised them water, and the trench became a great canal, and so they prevailed.

And the moral of this dumb story, if you didn't already see it a mile away,
is
A Dan, a clan, a canal - Canada!
 

Andrew Thompson

New member
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
RonBee said:
That would be a palindromic word, like noon, which is not only the same spelled forwards as backwards, but also is the same upside down (when spelled in all caps).
:)

So is there a word for words like NOON which are the same upside down and front to back?

And what about MOW which when rotated 180 degrees still reads MOW?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top