Edited by Richard Walker, Friday, 31 Jan 2025, 22:36
I came across this crossword clue
It goes round and round again (5)*
This is a well-used clue which comes up often in various guises, and meeting it again set me wondering how many words are reversible and what the longest is.
So I downloaded a list of 370,105 words from dwyl/english-words on GitHub, and wrote a short Python program to extract all the words that are the same backwards as forwards. My program found 232 reversible words, which appear in the list below. Some of them are rare or debatable – I certainly don't know what most of them mean – but there are plenty of familiar words there.
The longest is 'kinnikinnik', which is in the OED and means
A substance used by some Indigenous peoples of North America as a substitute for tobacco or for mixing with it, typically consisting of dried sumac leaves and the inner bark of willow or dogwood.
Reversible Words
I came across this crossword clue
It goes round and round again (5)*
So I downloaded a list of 370,105 words from dwyl/english-words on GitHub, and wrote a short Python program to extract all the words that are the same backwards as forwards. My program found 232 reversible words, which appear in the list below. Some of them are rare or debatable – I certainly don't know what most of them mean – but there are plenty of familiar words there.
The longest is 'kinnikinnik', which is in the OED and means
A substance used by some Indigenous peoples of North America as a substitute for tobacco or for mixing with it, typically consisting of dried sumac leaves and the inner bark of willow or dogwood.
a, aa, aaa, aba, abba, acca, ada, adda, addda, adinida, affa, aga, aha, ajaja, aka, akka, ala, alala, alula, ama, amma, ana, anana, anna, apa, ara, arara, asa, ata, atta, ava, awa, b, bab, bb, bib, bob, boob, bub, c, cc, cyc, civic, crc, csc, d, dad, dd, deed, deedeed, degged, deified, deked, deled, denned, dewed, did, divid, dod, dtd, dud, e, ecce, ee, eye, eke, elle, eme, ere, ese, esse, eve, ewe, f, ff, g, gag, gig, gog, goog, h, hagigah, hah, halalah, hallah, heh, huh, i, y, yay, yaray, ihi, ii, iii, imi, immi, yoy, j, k, kaiak, kayak, kakkak, kassak, kazak, keek, kelek, kinnikinnik, kook, l, lemel, level, ll, lwl, m, maam, madam, malayalam, malam, mallam, mam, marram, mem, mesem, mim, mym, minim, mm, mmmm, mom, mum, murdrum, n, nan, neven, non, noon, nun, o, ofo, oho, ono, oooo, oto, ottetto, otto, p, pap, peep, peeweep, pep, pip, poop, pop, pp, prp, ptp, pup, q, r, radar, redder, refer, reifier, renner, repaper, retter, rever, reviver, rotator, rotor, s, sagas, samas, sds, sees, selles, sememes, semes, senones, seres, sexes, shahs, siris, sis, solos, sooloos, sos, sps, ss, stats, stets, succus, sus, t, tat, tebbet, tebet, teet, tenet, terret, tgt, tibbit, tipit, tirrit, tit, tyt, tkt, tnt, toot, tot, trt, tst, tut, txt, u, ulu, ululu, umu, uru, usu, utu, v, vav, vv, w, waw, wow, x, xix, xx, xxx, z.
* rotor