Consider the word rotor. Whichever way you read it, from left to right or from right to left, you get the same word.
Is there any specific word for words like this?
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1A little tip! You may first check 'Reverso' dictionary that gives you a word depending on the description. Test it: Search: word that reads the same reverse and see the magic! :)– Maulik VNov 6, 2015 at 8:33
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@User1 Different people use different conventions to signify a linguistic structure... I've seen all-caps used by many newbies around ELL that don't know the English-language conventions.– Nihilist_FrostNov 6, 2015 at 15:00
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2 Answers
This is called a palindrome:
a word, verse, or sentence (as “Able was I ere I saw Elba”) or a number (as 1881) that reads the same backward or forward
Example:
Madam
Bob
Otto
As it is clear from the meaning that it is not only limited to words, but phrases, sentences and numbers, too. Allowances may be made for adjustments to capital letters, punctuation, and word dividers.
Example:
- Nurses run.
- A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
- A Santa lived as a devil at NASA.
- 12321
There is another word, semordnilap, which is nothing but palindromes spelled backward. However, semordnilap is a name coined for words that spell a different word in reverse.
Example:
stressed <=> desserts
Sources:
Wiki and Merriam-webster
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4One of my favorite palindromes of all is the Crab Canon, found in the book Gödel Escher Bach, by Hofstadter. Is essentially a palindromic conversation, and worth a mention just for its sheer genius.– J.R. ♦Nov 6, 2015 at 16:08
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1There is also this Weird Al spoof on a Bob Dylan song filled with palindromes.– OctopusNov 6, 2015 at 20:00
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"the word X is nothing but Y spelt backwards. however, it is also Z" - hmm, doesn't make much sense Nov 6, 2015 at 21:47
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@J.R. A palindrome poem called “Doppelgänger” by James A. Lindon is worth mentioning.– UsernewNov 7, 2015 at 6:41
That is called a palindrome; as the Google dictionary defines it:
A word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards
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At first you mixed it up with pantomime, as the link still showed it :-)– ImpairNov 6, 2015 at 15:48
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