An anadrome[1] [2] [3] [4] 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). An anadrome is also called (often humorously) a semordnilap.
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; a proper noun conceived in this way 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.
The English language has a very large number of single-word anadromes, by some counts more than 900.[3] Examples include:
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).[5]
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").
| anadrome | derivation | description | references | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| farad | a unit of elastance equal to the reciprocal farad | |||
| emirp | prime | a prime number that results in a different prime when its digits are reversed | ||
| gnip gnop | ping pong | reminiscent of the other tabletop game | ||
| ohm | a unit of electrical conductance which is the reciprocal of an ohm; now known by its official SI name "siemens", although mho is still sometimes used | [6] | ||
| namyats | Stayman | bridge convention invented by Sam Stayman, who also invented the Stayman convention. | [7] | |
| nimda | admin | the computer worm assumed admin-like powers. | ||
| tink | knit | to unknit | ||
| xallarap | parallax | converse microlensing effect | ||
| henry | A unit of measurement for reciprocal electrical inductance. |
| ananym | derivation | description | type | references | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adanac | Canada | a tourist cottage in Ontario | proper name | ||
| Adanac[s] | Canada | a Canadian lacrosse team | team name | ||
| Adaven | Nevada | ghost town | proper name | ||
| Airegin | Nigeria | composer Sonny Rollins is African American | song name | ||
| Aksarben | Nebraska | Various groups and locations in Nebraska | proper name | ||
| Allerednic | Cinderella | A "riches to rags" tale as opposed to Cinderella's rags to riches. Used by Jonathan Gershuny of high-achieving women whose careers stall after marriage. | proper name | [8] | |
| Alucard | Dracula | borne by various characters inspired by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897) | proper name | ||
| Ani Lorak | Karolina | stage name of Karolina Kuiek | pseudonym | ||
| Azed | Deza | pen name of Jonathan Crowther, after Spanish inquisitor Diego Deza | pseudonym | [9] | |
| [C. W.] Ceram | Marec | pen name of German journalist K. W. Marek (latinized Marec) | pseudonym | [10] | |
| asteroid | asteroid with retrograde orbit | proper name | [11] | ||
| Dnoces | "second" | Apollo program joke by Grissom, after Edward H. White II | proper name | ||
| Ebbot [Lundberg] | Tobbe | Tobbe is the usual hypocoristic of his given name Torbjörn | pseudonym | ||
| Eivets Rednow | Stevie Wonder | album name | |||
| elgooG | reverse-spelling search engine | company name | |||
| Navi | Ivan | Apollo program joke by Virgil Ivan Grissom | proper name | [12] | |
| Erewhon | "nowhere" | A utopia and the title of an 1872 novel by Samuel Butler. The digraph <wh> is not reversed. Many names within the book are also ananyms. | proper name | [13] | |
| "desire " | The Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone bears the inscription in reverse: "I show not your face but your heart's desire." | proper name | [14] | ||
| Esio Trot | "tortoise" | book name | |||
| Essiac | Rene Caisse | tea formula invented by Rene Caisse | product name | ||
| Etnaviv | Vivante | open-source driver for Vivante GPU | product name | ||
| Regor | Roger | Apollo program joke by Grissom, after Roger B. Chaffee | proper name | ||
| Гярб вечнълс (Giarb vechnals) | Слънчев бряг (Slanchev briag, "Sunny Beach") | Bulgarian Cyrillic ananym | proper name | ||
| Harpo [Productions] | Oprah | Oprah Winfrey's media company | company name | ||
| Kebert Xela | "Alex Trebek" | In "Family Guy", an answer given by Adam West to "send him back to the fifth dimension where he belongs", in reference to Mister Mxyzptlk | proper name | ||
| Klim | "milk" | a brand of powdered milk sold by Nestlé, early ads featuring the slogan "Spell it backwards" | product name | [15] | |
| Kroz | Zork | homage to older computer game | product name | ||
| Livic | "civil [engineering]" | trade newspaper, "a reflection of Civil Engineering" | company name | [16] | |
| Llamedos | "sod 'em all" | in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (compare Llareggub) | proper name | ||
| "bugger all" | in Under Milk Wood | proper name | |||
| MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) | "spam" | reverse backronym | organization name | ||
| Nagirroc | Corrigan | historic home in Florida, after the owner's last name | proper name | ||
| Namor | "Roman" | comic book character named by Bill Everett | proper name | ||
| Nevaeh | "heaven" | feminine given name | proper name | ||
| Nevar | "raven" | In the 2002 TV series Raven, Nevar is the nemesis of the main character. It is also a minor character in an episode of Teen Titans Go! (see Bizarro World). (It is also a possible answer to Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter riddle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.) | proper name | [17] | |
| Niloak Pottery | "kaolin" | material used in products | company name | ||
| Nitsuga | pseudonym | ||||
| Nogard | "dragon" | character in Alan F. Beck art series The Adventures of Nogard & Jackpot | proper name | [18] | |
| Nomad | Damon | named for founding member Damon Rochefort | band name | ||
| Nomar [Garciaparra] | Ramon | for his father, Ramon Garciaparra | proper name | ||
| Nujabes | Seba Jun | stage name of Jun Seba | pseudonym | ||
| OAT (organizing autonomous telecomms) | TAO (The Anarchy Organization) | OAT stands for "Organizing Autonomous Telecomms", a reverse backronym of its former name TAO, "The Anarchy Organization" | organization name | ||
| Posdnuos | "sound sop" | stage name of Kelvin Mercer | pseudonym | [19] | |
| Rae Sremmurd | "Ear" "Drummers" | first act signed to hip-hop label EarDrummers Records | band name | ||
| Rednaxela Terrace, Hong Kong | Alexander | believed to have been originally named after a Mr. Alexander, who partially owned the street, but reversed due to a clerical error | proper name | [20] [21] | |
| Fokker | Rekkof aircraft are based on Fokker designs. Also Rekkof Restart. Now Fokker Next Gen. | company name | [22] | ||
| Rellim | Miller | a farm in West Virginia, named for founder Paul Miller | proper name | ||
| Revilo | Oliver | pen name of cartoonist Oliver Christianson | pseudonym | ||
| Revilo [P. Oliver] | [Revilo P.] Oliver | Revilo was philologist Revilo P. Oliver's name at birth | proper name | ||
| Ridan | Nadir | named after another horse | proper name | ||
| 로꾸거 (Rokuko) | 거꾸로 (gokkuro) | backwards for Korean for "backwards" | song name | ||
| Rotanev | Venator | after Niccolò Cacciatore (Called Nicolaus Venator in Latin) | proper name | ||
| Beatles | the Beatles' merchandising company | company name | [23] | ||
| Senim Silla | "All is mines." | stage name of hip hop artist Ross Rowe; "mines" is African-American Vernacular for "mine" | pseudonym | [24] | |
| Senrab [Street] | Barnes | a street in Stepney (whence Senrab F.C.), near Barnes Street | proper name | ||
| Sevas Tra | "Art saves." | debut album of Otep | album name | ||
| Soma [Records] | Amos | after owner Amos Heilicher | company name | ||
| Strebor | Roberts | altered from the company's original name, the Roberts Company | company name | ||
| Sualocin | Nicolaus | after Niccolò Cacciatore (Called Nicolaus Venator in Latin) | proper name | [25] | |
| Tesremos | Somerset | pen name of Derrick Somerset Macnutt | pseudonym | [26] | |
| Trebloc | Colbert | place in Mississippi, named for a local family, whose name is found in many places, and thus altered "to avoid further repetition" | proper name | [27] | |
| Trebor | Robert | 14th-century composer whose real name may have been Robert | pseudonym | ||
| Trebor | Robert | Trebor is a confectionary founded by Robert Robertson | company name | ||
| Trebor | Robert | Robert Trebor is the stage name of actor Robert Schenkman. | pseudonym | ||
| Trebor and Werdna | Robert and Andrew | characters in computer game named after its programmers | proper name | ||
| Trugoy [the Dove] | "yogurt" | stage name of David Jude Jolicoeur, due to his fondness for yogurt | pseudonym | [28] | |
| Xvid | DivX | a competitor | company name | ||
| Gray | Allan and Jenny Gray revived the recipe | product name | |||
| Yellek | Kelley | named for R. J. Kelley, trainmaster at the passing point | proper name | ||
| [Stanley] Yelnats | Stanley [Yelnats] | the main character in Louis Sachar's novel Holes | proper name | ||
| Yen Sid | Disney | the powerful sorcerer in Fantasia (1940), whose apprentice Mickey Mouse causes mayhem after borrowing his master's hat | proper name | [29] |
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.
