palindrome
/ˈpælɪndɹoʊm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.17 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A word, phrase, number or any other sequence of units which has the property of reading the same forwards as it does backwards, character for character, sometimes disregarding punctuation, capitalization and diacritics.
noun
A sequence of items that follows the same pattern both forwards and backwards.
noun
A stretch of DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides on one strand are in the reverse order to that of the complementary strand
Example Sentences
- "The only thing exciting about 2002 is that it's a palindrome."
- "A conjunct palindrome from notes 5 to 11, D D E F E D D, abuts the only melodically disjunct group E G D (notes 12–14), and at the same time contributes to a melodic sequence with the opening four notes."
- "The shops opposite were a High Street palindrome — Korean gorocery, courier service, letting abgents, courier service, Korean grocery — and buses passed with noisy frequency."
- "The color sequence in the palindrome skein is the same no metter whether you start from the left or right."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos, “running back again”), from πάλιν (pálin, “back, again, back again”) + δρόμος (drómos, “running, race, racecourse”). By surface analysis, palin- + -drome (compare also velodrome and syndrome).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpælɪndɹoʊm/
- British English: /ˈpælɪndɹəʊm/