palindrome

/ˌpælənˈdroʊm/

/ˈpælɪndrəʊm/

Other forms: palindromes

“Madam, I’m Adam,” says Adam when he meets a woman for the first time. Not only is Adam polite, he’s also using a palindrome, a word or phrase that can be read the same way either forward or backward.

"Racecar," "radar," "stats," "eye," "Mom" — these are examples of palindromes: If you reverse the letters, the words will stay the same. An entire phrase can be a palindrome, like this: "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." Palindrome comes from a Greek word that means "running back again," which describes the back-and-forth nature of palindromes very well. Here’s a palindrome you can use at parties to impress people: "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog." It really works!

Definitions of palindrome

1. noun

   a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward
   type of:

   word

   a unit of language that native speakers can identify