Palindrome
A palindrome is a word or phrase which has the property of reading the same in either direction (the adjustment of spaces between letters is generally permitted).
Palindromes occur in many languages, but they are particularly prevalent in English due to the wide variety and frequent reversal of letter pairs within words.
Examples of palindromic words and phrases:
- redivider (the longest 'natural' palindrome in English)
- Glenelg (place name in Scotland and Australia)
- bob
- noon
- level
- Madam, I'm Adam
- do geese see god
- Able was I, ere I saw Elba (the famous 'Napoleon's Lament, source unknown)
- A Man, a plan, a canal - Panama! (history in palindromic form)
- Ten animals I slam in a net
- Yawn! Madonna fan? No damn way!
- Sex at noon taxes.
- ABBA
- Naomi, I moan (also, Naomi did I moan? or Naomi did Bob did I moan?)
- Tarzan raised a Desi Arnaz rat (This from Baby Gramps a steel guitar performer from the Northwest USA, famous for his palindromes)
- Straw? No, too stupid a fad. I put soot on warts.
- Live Evil (used as an album title by, amongst others, the metal band Black Sabbath and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis)
Most of us have two palindromic years 1991 and 2002 in our lifetimes. Furthermore, both these years have identical calendars. Even Easter is on the same day.
Japanese palindromes rely on their hiragana syllabary, like the word "shinbunshi" (newsprint). Their syllabary makes it possible to make very long palindromes. Try a Web search for "kaibun" (回文) to find some.
- See also : wordplay
In genetics, a palindromic DNA sequence can form a hairpin.
- See also: transcription