Shakespeare knew that.
So did Dr. Seuss.
They played with language in many ways including making up words like “lackluster” and “sneetches.”
I’m going to share with you today another made up word, although I don’t know who created it.
The word is “emordnilap” and it refers to words that are still words when spelled backwards.
“Emordnilap” is an emordnilap because it spells “palindrome” backwards which is where the word came from.
(In case you were wondering, a palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same forward and backward like “civic.” I have a list of palindromes here if you want to check them out. I also have a list of Spanish palindromes if you are interested in those.)
I have a list of emordnilap words below that you can share with your children. They are written only one way. I excluded the reverse words because I thought your kids would have fun figuring those out.
Enjoy!
Emordnilap Words
ah
am
are
bad
bag
ban
bard
bat
bog
bonk
brag
bud
buns
bur
but
decaf
decal
deeps
deer
deliver
denim
desserts
devil
dew
dial
diaper
dim
dog
doom
dot
draw
drawer
dual
edit
eh
emit
emordnilap
evil
flog
flow
gal
gar
gas
gel
gnus
gulp
gum
guns
gut
keel
keep
knits
lap
liar
loops
loot
loots
maps
mar
may
moor
nap
naps
net
nip
no
not
now
nuts
pals
part
parts
pat
pay
peels
pets
pins
pit
pools
pot
pots
rat
rats
raw
remit
saw
snoops
spat
spots
stew
Did your kids figure out the emordnilap words?
I hope they did, and I hope you share this fun list with others you know who are interested in this fascinating nuance of our language.