Appendix:Palindromic words

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This appendix contains known single-word palindromes in a variety of different languages. Within each section words are sorted by length (longest first). Words of the same length are sorted alphabetically. For multi-word palindromes see Appendix:Palindromic phrases.

Contents

[edit] English palindromic words

This list includes some proper names, hyphenated words and archaic words, as well as some names and words of foreign origin. The primary criterion for inclusion here is that the word is listed in one or more of the dictionaries or encyclopedias referenced by the OneLook dictionary search. However, some entries have been included on the basis of plausible evidence from other websites, or the application of living prefixes or suffixes (such as -er, meaning agent). Surnames are excluded. Some place names have also been omitted on the grounds of being too obscure.

[edit] 12 letters

[edit] 11 letters

  • aibohphobia – a joke word meaning "fear of palindromes", deliberately constructed so as to be one (various other words have been contrived along these lines, such as ailihphilia, a love of palindromes, elihphile, a lover of palindromes, etc.)
  • detartrated – past tense of “to detartrate”, a chemical term meaning to remove tartrates; alternatively an adjective indicating that tartrates have indeed been removed (this is the longest English palindrome in the Guinness Book of Records, though it is not listed in dictionaries; it is, however, encountered in some discussions of Concord grape juice [1])
  • kinnikinnik – variant (or common misspelling) of kinnikinnick, a Native American smoking mixture

[edit] Nine letters

  • deleveled - something that goes out of level
  • evitative – a grammatical case indicating fear or aversion
  • Malayalam – a language of South India
  • redivider – someone or something that redivides (tied for longest "real" palindrome that is not a proper noun and that appears in English dictionaries)
  • releveler – (American spelling) someone or something that levels again (tied for longest "real" palindrome that is not a proper noun and that appears in English dictionaries).
  • Rotavator – a type of machine for breaking up soil (trademark)

[edit] Seven letters

  • Adinida – a suborder of planktonic organisms
  • deified – past tense of "to deify", meaning to consider as a god
  • Hagigah
  • murdrum – in old English law, a secret killing
  • Nauruan – the language spoken in Nauru
  • peeweep – a type of bird, often understood to be a lapwing
  • racecar – a racing car
  • reifier – someone who reifies (considers an abstract concept to be real)
  • repaper – to cover again with paper
  • reviver – someone or something that revives or restores
  • rotator – a thing that rotates
  • seities – plural of seity, the essence of an individual
  • sememes – plural of sememe, the interpretation given to a morpheme (a language unit)
  • Senones – an ancient people who lived in part of what is now France
  • SIXAXIS – the name of the official PlayStation 3 controller
  • soosoos – plural of soosoo, a type of dolphin
  • Zerorez - Registered trademark for a carpet cleaning system (from Zero residue)

[edit] Six letters

  • denned – past tense of to den, meaning to live in a den
  • hallah – a variant of challah, a type of bread traditionally eaten by Jews
  • mallam – in West Africa, a learned man
  • marram – a type of grass
  • pip-pip – an old-fashioned British word for good-bye
  • pull-up or pullup – an exercise in which one pulls oneself up by the arms
  • redder – more red
  • renner – an archaic variant of runner
  • revver – someone or something that revs (an engine)
  • selles – plural of selle, an archaic word for a saddle
  • sesses – plural or third-persoItalic textn present tense of sess, an archaic word for tax (a variant of assess)
  • succus – any of various liquids excreted by animals or plants
  • terret – a metal ring on a harness, through which the reins pass
  • tirrit – according to Webster’s Dictionary (1913): "A word from the vocabulary of Mrs. Quickly, the hostess in Shakespeare’s Henry IV., probably meaning terror"
  • tut-tut – a disapproving sound; to make such a sound

[edit] Five letters

  • alala – a type of Hawaiian crow
  • alula – a structure forming part of a bird’s wing
  • arara – a type of Australian cockatoo; also a Brazilian macaw
  • civic – relating to a city
  • debed – to remove someone from a bed
  • deked – past tense of "to deke", meaning to deceive (especially in ice hockey)
  • deled – past tense of "to dele", meaning to delete (a passage of text)
  • dered – past tense of "to dere", an archaic word meaning to harm
  • dewed – past tense of "to dew", meaning to cover with dew
  • dexed – past tense of "to dex", meaning to drink robotussin
  • Hamah – variant of Hama, a city in Syria
  • Igigi – a class of Sumerian gods
  • irori - traditional Japanese sunken fireplace
  • kaiak – variant of kayak
  • Kanak – a native of New Caledonia; also, short for Kanakaole i.e. Hawaiian surname
  • kayak – a light Inuit canoe
  • Kazak – a member of a people inhabiting the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan; their language
  • kelek – a type of raft used in the Middle East
  • level – various common meanings
  • Liril – a cosmetic soap popular in India
  • madam – a polite form of address for a woman
  • minim – a musical note having half the duration of a full note
  • neven – "To name; to mention; to utter. [Obs.]" (definition from Webster’s Dictionary, 1913)
  • put-up – deceitful, as in a put-up job
  • radar – a method of detecting objects using radio waves (acronym from Radio Detection And Ranging, so it’s self-defining too - i. e., the word "bounces back" like a radar signal)
  • refer – various common meanings
  • rotor – something that rotates
  • sagas – plural of saga, a long narrative story
  • semes – plural of seme, a linguistic element
  • seres – plural of sere, a series of stages of ecological development
  • sexes – plural of sex
  • shahs – plural of shah, a former name for the king of Iran
  • Sinis – variant of siris (q.v.)
  • siris – a type of tree; (with cap.) a figure in Greek mythology
  • solos – plural of solo
  • stats – contraction of statistics
  • stets – third-person present tense of "to stet", meaning to indicate that a passage of text should remain unchanged
  • stots – third-person present tense of "to stot", meaning to leap or bounce
  • sulus – plural of sulu, a type of sarong
  • Susus – plural of Susu, a member of a West African people
  • tenet – a belief or principle
  • torot – see [2], [3]

[edit] Four letters

  • acca – see [4]
  • adda – a type of lizard; see [5]; (with capital) a river in Italy or Wales
  • affa – "A weight used on the Guinea coast, equal to an ounce" (definition from Webster’s Dictionary, 1828)
  • alla – see [6]
  • anna – an Indian coin; (with capital) a girl’s name
  • Beeb – an informal name for the BBC
  • boob – a blunder; a breast
  • deed – various common meanings
  • esse – existence or essence
  • goog – an egg (Australian slang)
  • immi – a Swiss unit of volume
  • keek – to peep
  • kook – a crazy person
  • ma'am – a contraction of madam
  • naan – a type of Indian bread
  • noon – midday
  • oppo – see [7]
  • otto – variant of attar, an essential oil
  • Otto - a proper name
  • peep – various common meanings
  • poop – a raised deck at the stern of a ship; various other meanings
  • sees – third-person present tense of ‘to see’
  • toot – the sound made by a horn or whistle

[edit] Three letters

  • aba – a fabric woven of the hair of camels or goats
  • aga – title for a civil or military leader, especially in Turkey
  • aha – used to express surprise, pleasure or triumph
  • ala – a wing or winglike structure or part
  • ama – a housemaid, especially a wet nurse, in India and the Far East
  • ana – a collection of various materials that reflect the character of a person or place, e.g. "early 1900’s Americana"; (with capital) a girl’s name
  • Ara – a star constellation; a genus of macaws
  • ava – a species of Macropiper (M. methysticum), the long pepper, from the root of which an intoxicating beverage is made by the PolynItalic textesians; also a girl's name
  • awa – away (Official Scrabble Players Dictionary)
  • bib – a piece of cloth or plastic secured under the chin and worn, especially by small children, to protect the clothing while eating
  • bob – to float on the surface of water; (with capital) shortened form of Robert, a boy’s name
  • bub – used as a term of familiar address, especially for a man or boy ('See you around, bub.’)
  • dad – father
  • did – past tense of the verb "do"
  • dud – something that doesn't work or succeed
  • eke – to obtain by great effort
  • eme – a distinctive unit of linguistic structure
  • ere – before (archaic or poetic)
  • eve – the period immediately preceding a certain event; (with capital) a girl’s name
  • ewe – a female sheep (ovine)
  • eye – the usual organ of sight
  • gag – something forced into or put over the mouth to prevent speaking or crying out; the act or an instance of gagging or choking
  • gig – a music event; also, a light two-wheeled carriage
  • gog – roof, covering
  • hah – a variation of "Ha!"
  • heh – used to express contempt; part of a snigger ("heh-heh")
  • huh – used to express interrogation, surprise, contempt or indifference
  • mim – demure
  • mom – mother (American)
  • mum – mother (British); a reference to silence (usually with "keep"; British)
  • nan – a variation of "nanny"
  • non – a prefix meaning "not" or "against"
  • nun – a female clergyman who practices celibacy
  • oho – used to express surprise, comprehension, or mock astonishment
  • omo – prefix; shoulder: omohyoid; also, a brand of washing powder sometimes used as the generic term for all washing powder
  • ono – "grief or strength or iniquity of him" (Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary)
  • oxo – oxime; (with capital) a brand name of meat-stock cubes
  • pap – a food made with warm milk and crumbled bread; also "Pap" an abbreviation of a proper name.
  • pep – energy and high spirits
  • pip – a seed; also, to get the better of
  • pop – a cola; also, to burst
  • pup – the young of any of various mammals
  • sis – shortened form of "sister"
  • sos – plural of "so", the fifth tone of the diatonic scale in music
  • tat – tattoo
  • tet – the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet
  • tit – a small bird (British); a breast (slang)
  • tot – a small child; a small quantity of liquid
  • tut – used to express annoyance, impatience or mild reproof ("Tut, tut, child!")
  • wow – used to express amazement
  • yay – used to express happiness/delight
  • zzz – the sound of snoring

[edit] Two letters

  • aa – lava having a rough surface (pron. a’a’)
  • ee – an extinct Hawaiian bird (pron. e’e’)
  • mm – used to express satisfaction
  • oo – a rare Hawaiian bird (pronounced "oh-oh"); also a Scottish word for "wool"; also "one" (obs. Chaucerian English)

[edit] Translingual and proper names

[edit] Non-English palindromic words

[edit] Albanian

[edit] Arabic

  • تُوْت tuut (consonant letters t-w-t) – "mulberry"
  • خَوْخ khawkh (consonant letters kh-w-kh) – "peach"
  • لَيْل layl (consonant letters l-y-l) – "night"
  • تحت taHt (consonant letters t-H-t) – "under"

The Arabic word for Libya ليبيا looks the same when viewed in a mirror (though it is not a palindrome by letters).

[edit] Bulgarian

[edit] Catalan

[edit] Croatian

  • aga – agha
  • Ana – a female first name
  • ara – macaw
  • bob
  • dud
  • geg – gag
  • ići – to go
  • ili – or
  • ini – others
  • joj – ouch
  • Krk – a Croatian island
  • kuk – hip
  • ljulj – Lolium perenne, a grass
  • Nin – a Croatian city
  • oko – eye, around
  • ono – that, it
  • oro – hora
  • Oto – a male first name
  • ovo – this
  • pop
  • pup – bud
  • šaš – Acorus, a genus of plants
  • tat
  • Tit – a male first name, Titus (New Testament, Gal 2:3)

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Egyptian

  • Habibah - Proper name for girls meaning "loved"

[edit] Esperanto

  • erare (5) – "incorrectly"
  • imami – "to be an imam"
  • salas – "is salting"
  • sanas – "is healthy"
  • satas – "is satiated"
  • sidis – "sat"
  • sonos – "will make a sound"
  • aĉa (3) – "of poor quality; objectionable"
  • ada – "continual"
  • aga – "of or related to an action"
  • aĝa – "of or related to age"
  • aĵa – "of or related to a thing"
  • ala – "of or related to a wing"
  • ama – "of or related to love"
  • ana – "of or related to a member"
  • ara – "of or related to a collection or set"
  • asa – "of or related to an ace"
  • ava – "of or related to a grandfather"
  • ene – "within"
  • idi – "to be a descendant"
  • igi – "to cause to be"
  • iĝi – "to become"
  • ili – "they"
  • iri – "to go"
  • mem – "-self/selves"
  • nun – "now"
  • Obo – "name of a river in Siberia"
  • odo – "ode"
  • oho – "aha"
  • oko – "the number or numeral 8; a set of eight"
  • omo – "ohm"
  • Onano – "name of a comune in Italy"
  • Orero – "name of a comune in Italy"
  • ono – "divisor"
  • opo – "a collective grouping"
  • oro – "gold"
  • oto – (medicine) "ear"
  • ovo – "egg"
  • ozo – (biochemistry) "monosaccharide"
  • umu – "do (some unspecific action)!"

[edit] Estonian

[edit] Finnish

Finnish has two 25-letter palindromes:

Other palindromes:

[edit] French

See also Category:French palindromes
9 letters
7 letters
6 letters
5 letters
4 letters
3 letters
2 letters
  • aa
  • Aa (a French river)
  • MM
  • Oô (a French village)

[edit] German

[edit] Greek

[edit] Hebrew

  • ולכשתשכלו – "and when you will bereave" (the longest palindromic word in Hebrew with meaning)
  • לאיתיאל – "to Ithiel" (the longest palindromic word in the Bible, Proverbs 30:1)
  • סוס– horse
  • ישי– Yishai, David’s father (male first name)
  • דוד– David, Yishai’s son (also uncle)
  • נתן– Nathan or Natan, David’s son
  • ירי– Firing of a bullet.
  • אבא- Father (interestingly Dad is a palindrome as well. pronounced: "Abba" another palindrome.
  • מים - Water

[edit] Hungarian

  • lakkal (6 letters) – "with lacquer"
  • lappal – "with page"
  • tettet – "pretend", "make someone put something somewhere", "achievement, act, action" in accusativus
  • előle (5) – "ahead of him"
  • görög – "Greek"
  • legel – "pasture" (the verb)
  • lepel – "veil"
  • lehel – "breathe"
  • Lehel – ancient Hungarian male name
  • lohol – "he walks/runs in a hurry"
  • magam – "myself"
  • mosom – "I wash"
  • rájár – "goes on it"
  • saras – "muddy"
  • sebes – "wounded" or "fast"
  • soros – "serial" or "the next one (in the line)"
  • sörös – "beery"
  • tavat – "lake" in accusativus
  • tehet – "may do", "can do"
  • tejet – "milk" in accusativus
  • telet – "winter" in accusativus
  • temet – "bury"
  • teret – "square" or "space" in accusativus
  • tököt – "pumpkin" in accusativus
  • kerek – "round" (round form)
  • kezek – "hands"
  • köbök – "cubes"
  • ködök – "fogs"
  • kölök – "kid"
  • konok – "obstinate"
  • köpök – "I spit"
  • körök – "rounds"
  • kötök – "I knit"
  • közök – "lanes", "intervals"
  • abba (4) – "into that"
  • Anna – female name
  • arra – "that way"
  • ebbe – "into this"
  • enne – "he would eat"
  • erre – "this way"
  • inni – "to drink"
  • aha (3) – "uhum"
  • ama – "that, yon"
  • apa – "father"
  • ara – "bride"
  • bab – "bean"
  • búb – "casque"
  • Ede – a male name
  • eke – "plow"
  • eme – "this"
  • gőg – "haughtiness", "pride"
  • jaj – "ouch"
  • juj – "ouch"
  • lel – "find"
  • pap – "priest"
  • púp – "hump"
  • sas – "eagle"
  • sós – "salty"
  • tat – "stern"
  • tát – "open" (one’s mouth)
  • tét – "stake"
  • ürü – "ram"
  • vív – "he fences"
  • zúz – "bruise"

[edit] Icelandic

[edit] Indonesian

[edit] Interlingua

  • evitative (adj., 9 letters) – "evitative"
  • anilina (7 letters) – "aniline"
  • Nauruan (adj., 7 letters) – "Nauruan"
  • rotator (7 letters) – "rotator"
  • etate (5 letters) – "age"
  • kayak (5 letters) – "kayak"
  • radar (5 letters) – "radar"
  • Anna (4 letters) – "Anna"
  • osso (4 letters) – "bone"
  • aha! (3 letters) – "aha!"
  • ala (3 letters) – "wing"
  • lol (3 letters) – "lol" (laughing out loud)
  • non (3 letters) – "not"
  • ovo (3 letters) – "egg", "ovum"

[edit] Inuit

  • qajaq – "kayak" (also a palindrome in English and some other languages)

[edit] Italian

[edit] Japanese

See also Kaibun.

  • 丸くなるな車 (まるくなるなくるま）
  • トマト

[edit] Kabyle

[edit] Korean

[edit] Latin

[edit] Marathi मराठी

[edit] Norwegian

[edit] Persian

[edit] Polish

[edit] Portuguese

  • aba – rim, brim
  • acaiaca – a Brazilian cedrela
  • Ada – Ada
  • agá – letter H
  • ala – room
  • ama – he/she/it loves; nurse
  • Ana – Anne
  • iri – an Astrocaryum palm
  • ara – sacrificial altar
  • anilina – aniline
  • asa – wing
  • assa – he/she/it roasts
  • ata – sugarapple
  • anona – soursop
  • ele – he; letter L
  • eme – letter M
  • ene – letter N
  • erre – you shall miss; letter R
  • esse – this; letter S
  • mamam – they breastfeed
  • matam – they kill
  • matutam – they ponder
  • melem – they shall smear
  • metem – they insert
  • mexem – they stir
  • mim – me
  • mirim – little, diminute
  • mussum – a kind of fish
  • mutum – curassow
  • oco – hollow
  • omissíssimo – very neglectful
  • osso – bone
  • ovo – egg
  • radar – radar
  • raiar – to gleam
  • ralar – to scrape
  • rasar – to level
  • ratar – to gnaw
  • reler – to reread
  • reter – to retain
  • rever – to review
  • reviver – to revive
  • rir – to laugh
  • rotor – rotor
  • sacas – bags
  • salas – rooms
  • supus – I supposed
  • saras – you be healed
  • seles – you shall seal
  • seres – beings
  • siris – crabs
  • socos – punches
  • solos – soils
  • somávamos – we were summing
  • somos – we are
  • soros – soruses

[edit] Punjabi

[edit] Romanian

[edit] Russian

[edit] Serbo-Croatian

Latin script; see the entries themselves for Cyrillic equivalents
  • kajak (“kayak”)
  • kapak (“eyelid”)
  • kisik (“oxygen”)
  • melem (“salve”)
  • monom
  • Nadan (“a male first name”)
  • Natan (“a male first name, Nathan”)
  • {{l|sh|neven|sc=Latn|gloss=marigold
  • potop (“flood”)
  • radar (“radar”)
  • ranar (“healer”)
  • ratar
  • reper (“rapper”)
  • rotor
  • topot (“trample”)
  • aga (“agha”)
  • Ana (“a female first name”)
  • ara (“macaw”)
  • bob
  • dud
  • geg (“gag”)
  • ići (“to go”)
  • ili (“or”)
  • ini (“others”)
  • joj (“ouch”)
  • Krk (“a Croatian island”)
  • kuk (“hip”)
  • ljulj (“Lolium perenne, a grass”)
  • Nin (“a Croatian city”)
  • oko (“eye, around”)
  • ono (“that, it”)
  • oro (“hora”)
  • Oto (“a male first name”)
  • ovo (“this”)
  • pop
  • pup (“bud”)
  • šaš (“Acorus, a genus of plants”)
  • tat
  • Tit a male first name, Titus (New Testament, Gal 2:3)

[edit] Slovene

  • aga - agha
  • aha - aha
  • ara - deposit / parrot
  • ata - father
  • bob - broad bean / bobsled
  • ded - grandfather
  • gag - gag
  • iti - going
  • oko - eye (twin palindrome)
  • ono - it
  • oro - dance
  • pop - priest of the Orthodox Church
  • tat - thief
  • vrv - rope
  • Ada - given name
  • Ana - given name
  • Ivi - given name
  • Oto - given name
  • Natan - given name
  • Kuk - place name

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Swedish

  • Naturrutan (10) – "The Nature Square" (name of a TV show)
  • retsyster (9) – "teasy sister"
  • varggrav (8) – "wolf-grave"
  • gnupung (7) – "antelope-scrotum"
  • raggar (6) –
  • tappat : "lost", "dropped", "mislaid"
  • Kivik (5) – name of a small Swedish fishing village also a Cider brand
  • rotor (same as in English)
  • rapar "burps"
  • ratar "refuses to choose"
  • reser "travels"
  • rosor "roses"
  • rovor "turnips"
  • ståts "pomp's"
  • stats "state's"
  • Anna (4) – (a female name)
  • amma "breast-feed"
  • (alfa) Laval (a name of a Swedish company)
  • Otto (a male name)
  • alla "all, everyone"
  • ABBA ( stands for Agneta, Björn, Benny and Annefrid, the members of the Swedish popgroup called ABBA)
  • naan (a bread from India)
  • aga (the AGA-stowe, the name of a company making liquefied petroleum gas, also "corporal punishment")
  • aha ( the meaning is the same as in English)
  • apa (3) – "monkey"
  • ara "a kind of parrot"
  • Bob (a male name and also the name of a company making jam, lemonade and marmelade)
  • dåd "deed"
  • kuk "cock"
  • kåk slang – "house, prison"
  • kök "kitchen"
  • nån short for någon – "somebody, anybody"
  • pip (the sound a bird makes
  • pep past tense of pipa: to make a sound as of a bird
  • rar "sweet, cute"
  • ror "rows", the thing you’re doing when you’re moving the orings)
  • rår "takes care of/deals with/rules over"
  • rör "pipe", "tube", also: "touches"
  • ses present tense, passive voice of se "to be seen"; coll. for "See you (later)!"
  • tut (the sound made by a trainwhistle)
  • wow (the meaning is the same as in english)
  • SAS (Scandinavian Airline System)
  • sås "sauce"
  • tåt "the end of a rope"
  • vev "crank" (the mechanism))

[edit] Thai

The Thai script does not follow a linear sequence of symbols. Vowels that sound after a consonant can be written before, above, below or around that consonant. Tone and length diacritics occur only above initial consonants. The silent symbol occurs only above a final consonant in a syllable. All these characteristics make written palindromes relatively rare. A few are:

[edit] Turkish

[edit] Ukrainian

[edit] Urdu

  • saas – "mother-in-law,mother of husband or wife"
  • daamaad – "son-in-law,person married to one’s daughter"

[edit] Võro

[edit] Welsh

  • dafad – "sheep", "wart"
See also Appendix:Palindromic phrases
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Appendix:Palindromic_words&oldid=16176884"
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