A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or sequence of words that reads the same backward as forward. Punctuation and spaces between the words or lettering are allowed. The palindrome examples below will provide some interesting insight into this wordplay.
The longest single-word palindrome in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the onomatopoeic word tattarrattat, coined in Ulysses by James Joyce (1922). It refers to a knock on the door.
Other fun palindrome words include:
Anna / civic / kayak / level / madam / mom / noon / racecar / radar / redder / refer / repaper / rotator / rotor / sagas / solos / stats / tenet / wow
The longest palindrome in use today is said to be the 19-letter Finnish word saippuakivikauppias, which means soapstone vendor.
Palindromes aren't limited to one-word terms. There are a few multi-word phrases that actually spell the same thing forward and backward.
Believe it or not, there are even some complete sentences (and even a few questions!) that are palindromes. Most, but not all, examples of sentence palindromes are quite brief.
Don't nod. / I did, did I? / Step on no pets. / Eva, can I see bees in a cave? / Was it a cat I saw? / taco cat / my gym / red rum, sir, is murder / top spot / no lemon, no melon / never odd or even.
Pop in for a quick coffee and a chat on this palindrome date 22 02 20 22