Anadrome

An anadrome, also known as an Emordnilap or a Semordnilap is a word or phrase whose letters can be reversed to spell a different word or phrase. For example, ''desserts'' is an anadrome of ''stressed''. An anadrome is therefore a special type of anagram. The English language is replete with such words.

The word ''anadrome'' comes from Greek ''anádromos'' ( ἀνάδρομος), "running backward", and can be compared to ''palíndromos'' ( παλίνδρομος), "running back again" (whence ''palindrome'').

There is a long history (dating at least to the fourteenth century, as with Trebor and S. Uciredor) of alternate and invented names being created out of anadromes of real names; such a contrived proper noun is sometimes called an ananym, especially if it is used as personal pseudonym. Unlike typical anadromes, these anadromic formations often do not conform to any real names or words. Similarly cacographic anadromes are also characteristic of Victorian back slang, where for example ''yob'' stands for ''boy''.

Examples

The English language has a very large number of single-word anadromes, by some counts more than 900. Some examples:

* two letters: ''am'' ↔ ''ma''; ''eh'' ↔ ''he''; ''ew'' ↔ ''we''; ''no'' ↔ ''on''
* three letters: ''bro'' ↔ ''orb''; ''dog'' ↔ ''god''; ''gum'' ↔ ''mug''; ''nip'' ↔ ''pin''
* four letters: ''edit'' ↔ ''tide''; ''evil'' ↔ ''live''; ''liar'' ↔ ''rail''; ''part'' ↔ ''trap''
* five letters: ''denim'' ↔ ''mined''; ''knits'' ↔ ''stink''; ''lever'' ↔ ''revel''; ''peels'' ↔ ''sleep''
* six letters: ''denier'' ↔ ''reined''; ''diaper'' ↔ ''repaid''; ''drawer'' ↔ ''reward''; ''pupils'' ↔ ''slip-up''
* seven letters: ''amaroid'' ↔ ''diorama''; ''deliver'' ↔ ''reviled''; ''gateman'' ↔ ''nametag''
* eight letters: ''desserts'' ↔ ''stressed''

An anadrome can also be a phrase, as in ''no tops'' ↔ ''spot on''. The word ''redrum'' (i.e., "red rum") is used this way for ''murder'' in the Stephen King novel '' The Shining'' (1977) and its film adaptation (1980).

Anadromes exist in other written languages as well, as can be seen, for example, in Spanish ''orar'' ↔ ''raro'' or French ''l'ami naturel'' ("the natural friend") ↔ ''le rut animal'' ("the animal rut").

Invented anadromes

Ananyms and anadromic names

Many jazz titles were written by reversing names or nouns: Ecaroh inverts the spelling of its composer Horace Silver's Christian name. Sonny Rollins dedicated to Nigeria a tune called " Airegin".

A number of Pokémon species, such as the snake Pokémon Ekans and Arbok (''cobra'' backwards with a K), have anadromic names.

See also

* Back slang, use of invented anadromes as coded language
* Anagram
* Palindrome
* '' Verlan''
* List of geographic anagrams and ananyms
* :Names derived from word reversals

Notes

References

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External links

*{{wiktionary-inline

Word games
Lists of names
Anagrams