semordnilap
noun

- a word or phrase whose letters can be reversed to spell a different word or phrase

—

WORD ORIGIN

"Semordnilap" is "palindromes" spelled backwards. It was created as a playful coinage to name the linguistic phenomenon of words that spell different words when read backwards (unlike palindromes, which read the same in both directions).

The term is relatively recent, appearing in the late 20th century in word play and linguistics circles. The earliest documented mentions appear to be from the 1960s-1970s, though it gained more popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.

"Semordnilap" has remained somewhat of a specialist term that hasn't been widely adopted in standard dictionaries, though it is well-known among word play enthusiasts, logologists, and recreational linguists — it nicely demonstrates a sort of meta-linguistic humour, as the word itself is an example of the phenomenon it describes.

—

SEMORDNILAP’S

- In The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer, the main character’s name spells alone backwards, alluding to Enola’s solitary nature.

- The magical Mirror of Erised in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series shows people their deepest longing when they look into it. Hence its name is a reflection – or reversal – of the word desire.

- The title of Barbara Vine’s crime novel A Fatal Inversion refers to Ecalpemos, a short-lived commune in which a group of young people spend the summer of 1976, and where the bones of a woman and baby are discovered some years later. Ecalpemos is, of course, someplace spelled backward.

YT NEWT SEMORDNILAP’s:

1. Avid → Diva
2. Deer → Reed
3. Deliver → Reviled
4. Desserts → Stressed
5. Diaper → Repaid
6. Drawer → Reward
7. Flow → Wolf
8. God → Dog
9. Knits → Stink
10. Lived → Devil
11. Loop → Pool
12. Mined → Denim
13. Nametag → Gateman
14. Parts → Strap
15. Rail → Liar
16. Rats → Star
17. Redraw → Warder
18. Snoops → Spoons
19. Smart → Trams
20. Ward → Draw

—

SYNONYMS

Alternatives to "semordnilap" include: anadromes: anadromes, heteropalindromes, reversals, word reversals, and backwords,… but semordnilap is particularly loved for being both descriptive and demonstrative of its own meaning.

—

SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“The word ‘nametag’ reversed becomes ‘gateman’,… an interesting SEMORDNILAP!”

—
P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

On evenings and weekends, I research and write your daily OWAD newsletter together with Helga—my lovely wife and coaching partner, and our eagle-eyed daughter, Jennifer.

It remains FREE, AD-FREE, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers.

If you aren’t already, please consider supporting us — even a small donation, equivalent to just 1-cup-of-coffee a month, would help us in covering expenses for mailing, site-hosting, maintenance, and service.

Just head over to DonorBox:
Please help keep OWAD alive

or

Bank transfer:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

Important: please state as ’Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul, Helga, & Jenny Smith

- Feedback, questions, new word suggestions to: paul@smith.de

- OWAD homepage, word archive, FAQs, publications, events, and more: www.owad.de

---

- to unsubscribe from OWAD, CLICK HERE