Letty:
A palindrome is a word spelled the same backward or forward. Example: refer.
I'm looking for the word for a word that has a different meaning when spelled
backwards. Examle: draw/ward.
Thank you for your reply to my question.
Thank you. I finally found "semordnilap" in the Oxford dictionary. If you
answered my question off the top of your head, then I see you as truly
erudite.
egcoon
A string of letters that reads the same backwards as forwards is a palindrome (“Madam, I’m Adam”; “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!”; “Was it a car or a cat I saw?”). A semordnilap is closely related, but the reversed text must be different. For example, if you reverse “diaper” you get “repaid”, and if you invert “desserts” the word “stressed” appears. A more complicated example is “deliver no evil”, but you can probably invent better ones for yourself. As semordnilap is palindromes written backwards, it’s a self-referential word, one that encapsulates within itself the thing it represents. You could hardly say that it’s common, but many earnest palindromists have accidentally discovered it, and it has some small circulation among word wizards.
okay, so what is it called when a word in one language spelled backward means something else in another language? "rios", "rivers" in Spanish is "soir", "evening" in French. Betcha there's no word for this one.
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