Palindromes

Palindromes

Palindromes

Like "a Toyota" or "Civic", I'm just as good in reverse?
What am I? _______________(10 letters)

The answer is "Palindrome", because a palindrome is a word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward.

Let's try some more palindrome riddles!

What word becomes a palindrome when viewed upside down and backwards?

Reveal Answer?

SWIMS

Pronounced as one letter but written with three, only two different letters are used to make me.
I'm double, I'm single I'm black, blue, and gray.
I'm read from both ends and the same either way.

Reveal Answer?

EYE (or another clever visitor suggested this could also be "ewe"!)

What word, when written in capital letters,
is the same forwards, backwards and upside down?

Reveal Answer?

NOON

What call for help, when written in capital letters,
is the same forwards, backwards and upside down?

Reveal Answer?

SOS

And now move on to our single word palindromes, and palindrome phrases!


Single word palindromes! 

(in alphabetical order)

2002
ABBA (the pop band)
Anna
atta (as in atta boy!)
Ava
Aviva (the main character in a movie called Palindromes)
bib
Bob
civic
Dad
deed
did
dud
ere
eke!
Elle (a name)
eve
ewe
eye
gag
gig
Glenelg (a village on the West coast of Scotland, near where Gavin Maxwell lived with his otters and wrote "Ring of Bright Water;" it is also a town in Australia)
Hannah
Havivah (a name meaning "beloved")
huh?
kayak
kook
level
Li'l
ma'am (as in "yes ma'am")
madam
Malayalam (South Indian Language)
minim (a musical notation palindrome)
Mom
Mum
noon
Nun
Ogopogo (a mythological creature said to inhabit Okanagan Lake in British Columbia)
Otto
pap
peep
pep
pip
pop
poop (as in "I'm pooped!)
pup
racecar (or race car)
radar
redder
redivider (longest English word palindrome)
refer
repaper
reviver
rotor
rotator
sagas
sees
sexes
shahs
sis
solos
SOS
stats
tat
TNT
toot
tot
Tumut (a town in New South Wales, Australia)
Tut
wow


Palindrome Math

111,111,111 X 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
(Note: We have included this one because the problem itself is a palindrome, and the solution is a palindrome; however, the problem and the solution combined into one phrase are not a palindrome)

And of course, you can make palindromes out of numbers without difficulty, such as these years: 1991, 1881, 1771, 1661, etc.


Palindrome phrases! 

(in alphabetical order)

A dog! A panic in a pagoda!
A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
A Santa at NASA
A tin mug for a jar of gum, Nita.
A Toyota
A Toyota's a Toyota!
A Toyota...race fast...safe car...a Toyota!
Able was I, ere I saw Elba. (Note: This palindrome may have originally been 'coined' by Napoleon when he was captured and sent to the island of Elba)
Ah, Satan sees Natasha.
And DNA and DNA and DNA...
Bald elf fled lab
Bosses sob
Camp Mac
Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
Dee saw a seed
Delia sailed
Delia sailed, Eva waved, Elias ailed
Did Hannah say as Hannah did?
Did Dean aid Diana? Ed did.
Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did!
Do nine men interpret? Nine men, I nod.
Doc, note, I dissent, a fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.
Don did nod
Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.
Draw, o coward!
Dumb mud.
Ed is loopy poolside.
Egad! A base tone denotes a bad age.
Elim saw a smile.
Elk rap song? No sparkle.
Emil saw a slime.
Enid and Edna dine
Euston saw I was not Sue
Eva, can I stab bats in a cave?
Evil I did dwell; lewd did I live
Evil, all its sin is still alive.
Flee to me, remote elf
Gate tag
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.
Golf? No sir, prefer prison flog.
I led some to Hot Emo's Deli
I love me, VOL. I
I, madam, I made radio. So I dared...am I mad, am I?
I, man, am Regal. A German am I.
I prefer Pi
If I had a hi-fi...
Key lime, Emily, ek!
Lace decal
Lager, sir, is regal.
L.A. ocelots stole coal.
Lap pal
Last egg gets Al!
Lee has a race car as a heel.
Lew, Otto has a Hot Towel
Liam was in a tub, but Ani saw mail.
Lid Off a Daffodil (a palindrome book title!)
Lion oil
Lisa Bonet ate no basil!
Live Evil,
Live not on evil.
Lonely Tylenol
Loot tool
Ma handed Edna ham
Ma is as selfless as I am.
Mad at Adam
Madam, I'm Adam
Marge lets Norah see Sharon's telegram
May a moody baby doom a yam?
Mega gem
Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.
Murder for a jar of red rum.
Name tag gate man
Naomi, did I moan?
Naomi, I moan
Neil A. sees alien!
Neil, an alien?
Net ten
Never odd or even
Niagara, o roar again!
No devil lived on
No lava on Avalon; no lava, no Avalon. (Note: Avalon is the place where King Arthur is buried.)
No melon, no lemon.
No miss. It is Simon
No misses ordered roses, Simon
No panic... I nap on
Not a banana -- baton!
No way a papaya won!
Now I see bees! I won!
No X in Nixon? (also works in 180 degree rotation, but not reflection)
No, Mel, onward! Draw no lemon!
No, sir! Away! A papaya war is on!
No, son
Nola's Salon
Not a ton.
Not a tub, but a ton
Not New York, Roy went on
Now I see bees, I won!
Now I won!
Now, sir, a war is won!
Nurse, I spy gypsies. Run!
Nurses Run
O' Geronimo, no minor ego
Oh no, Don Ho!
Oh, who was it I saw? Oh, who?
OK, KO!
One? No!
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
O' stone, be not so!
Pals slap
Panic in a Titanic, I nap!
Pa's a sap!
Pat and Edna tap
Pets step,
Poor Dan is in a droop
Pot top
Pull up if I pull up
Pull up, Eva! we're here! Wave! Pull up!
Pull up
Pupils, I say, as I slip up
Put a crow, a camel, a mini male macaw, or cat up.
Race car
Race fast, safe car
Race vast, save car
Rat 'n' tar
Rats live on no evil star
Rats' star
Red rum, sir, is murder
Rise to vote, sir
Roy, am I mayor?
Sages use gas
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
Senile felines
Sh! Tom sees moths.
Sir, I soon saw Bob was no Osiris.
Sir, I'm Iris.
Sit on a potato pan, Otis
Slap a ham on Omaha, pals!
Snack cans
Snug guns
Some men interpret nine memos
Spam maps Spot sees tops.
Stanley Yelnats (A palindrome name was used as a character in the book "Holes" by Louis Sacher)
Step on no pets!
Stop racecar pots!
Strap racecar parts
Straw warts
Straw? No, too stupid a fad. I put soot on warts.
Stressed desserts
Stunt nuts!
Swap paws
Tell Abe to vote Ballet
Ten animals I slam in a net.
Todd erases a red dot
Too bad I hid a boot
Too fat a foot
Too hot to hoot (as in hooting like an owl)
Trapeze part
Tuna nut.
U.F.O. tofu.
Warsaw was raw.
War, sir, is raw.
Was it a bar or a bat I saw?
Was it a bat I saw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Was it a cat I saw
Was it a hat I saw
Was it a mat I saw
Was it a pat I saw
Was it a rat I saw
Was it a vat I saw
Was it Tim's mitt I saw?
We panic in a pew
We sew
We'll let dad tell Lew
Wo, Nemo! Toss a lasso to me now!
Won't lovers revolt now?
Wonton? not now!
Yawn a more Roman way
Yo! Banana Boy!
Yreka Bakery (Yreka is a city in California, and that makes Yreka Bakery a true palindrome)


"Bob" Lyrics, a palindrome song by Weird Al Yankovic

(based on the tune for Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan)

I, man, am regal - a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot or to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
"Do nine men interprite?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfish as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah, Satan sees Natasha
No evil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi," I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies - run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog

Check it out, the following list of names is also a palindrome!

Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.


Here is one palindrome in the Ancient Greek Language:

Greek palindrome

It means: "Wash your innerself dirt [or bad thoughts, bad deeds, etc.], not only your face."
However, this palindrome only works when using Greek letters, as shown above, because in Greek letters, P and S become one unique letter called "psi" (the letter that looks somewhat like a pitchfork above). So you will not be able to read this palindrome correctly in Roman characters.

The Greek alphabet is as follows:

Greek alphabet

Some letters look the same as in the Roman (English) alphabet, but many others are different. And letters I and H in Greek are pronounced the same and sound like the letter E in English.

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