Fun With Words: Palindromes

By Sharon

Palindromes are words, phrases or number sequences that read the same way in both directions. Palindrome derives from the Greek for ‘running back again’. Both the Greeks and Romans are known to have enjoyed palindromes. The Greeks also published palindromic poetry.

Common words that are palindromes include:

  • civic
  • eye
  • level
  • nun
  • pop
  • radar

Some famous palindrome phrases are:

  • Able was I ere I saw Elba
  • A man, a plan, a canal – Panama!
  • Madam, I’m Adam

There are many more examples on the Thinks.com Palindrome Parade.

Other palindrome forms use words or lines, rather than letters, as the unit to be repeated. See some examples here.

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17 Responses to “Fun With Words: Palindromes”

  • Hannah

    My name– Hannah (and the name Anna)

    A nut for a jar of tuna

    Tis Ivan on a visit

    Niagara, O roar again!

  • kush

    i need to do a palindrome in very simple c language.i need help plz help me i have to return it soon its an assingment

  • Fredrick

    Someone can show me the words EYE in palindrome using c program.
    Thank You.

  • Norman

    U can put many palindrome word,
    If u can put it plssssssssssssss!

  • Sharon

    Thanks, Kirsty. You can have fun with words in any language, can’t you?

  • kirsty

    here’s some in dutch:

    parterretrap (I really don’t know how to discribe that ^-^)

    meetsysteem (measuringsystem)

    lepel (spoon)

    neven (cousins)

    appologies for any misspelled words ^-^

  • Najat

    nice informations, thanks mua

  • Sharon

    Ah yes, the ex-parrot – how could I forget 😉

  • Craig

    Any don’t forget the famous Monty Python parrot skit – when they used Bolton and Notlob as the train station!

  • Sharon

    Programming palindromes? Another new application. Thanks for the info, Shankar.

  • Shankar Ganesh

    Haha! Just on time.

    I was being taught last week how to program using the C Language to check if a string is palindrome or not 😉

  • Sharon

    Now that IS a fun fact, Corey. Thanks for sharing.

  • Corey

    Fun info! I used to live in a town named Yreka and the local bakery was named Yreka Bakery. Don’t know if they realized when they named it that the name is a palindrome.

  • Sharon

    Glad you enjoyed it, Azhar

  • Azhar

    ITS REALLY A NEW BUT UNIQUE TOPIC AT LEAST FOR ME…..THANKS.

    AZHAR

  • Sharon

    Thanks for the info, Reader37; I didn’t know that.

  • Reader 37

    “Weird Al” Yankovic’s song, “Bob”, is made up entirely of palindromes.

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