An anadrome 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 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 an emordnilap, often humorously, which is palindrome spelled backwards.
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.
Examples The English language has a very large number of single-word anadromes, by some counts more than 900. Examples include:
two letters: am ↔ ma; eh ↔ he; ew ↔ we; no ↔ on three letters: bro ↔ orb; dog ↔ god; gum ↔ mug; was ↔ saw; nip ↔ pin; dew ↔ wed; dam ↔ mad; net ↔ ten; pan ↔ nap four letters: edit ↔ tide; evil ↔ live; liar ↔ rail; part ↔ trap; star ↔ rats; loop ↔ pool; pets ↔ step; deep ↔ peed; wolf ↔ flow five letters: denim ↔ mined; knits ↔ stink; lever ↔ revel; peels ↔ sleep six letters: denier ↔ reined; diaper ↔ repaid; drawer ↔ reward; pupils ↔ slip-up seven letters: amaroid ↔ diorama; deliver ↔ reviled; gateman ↔ nametag eight letters: desserts ↔ stressed
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).
Anadromes exist in other written languages as well, as can be seen, for example, in Spanish orar ("to pray") ↔ raro ("strange") or French l'ami naturel ("the natural friend") ↔ le rut animal ("the animal rut").
Invented anadromes anadromederivationdescriptionreferencesdaraf farada unit of elastance equal to the reciprocal farademirpprimea prime number that results in a different prime when its digits are reversedemordnilappalindromesynonym of anadromegnip gnopping pongreminiscent of the other tabletop gamemho ohma 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 namyatsStaymanbridge convention invented by Sam Stayman, who also invented the Stayman convention.nimdaadminthe computer worm assumed admin-like powers.tinkknitto unknitxallarapparallaxconverse microlensing effectyrneh henryA unit of measurement for reciprocal electrical inductance.
Ananyms and anadromic names
ananymderivationdescriptiontypereferences Adanac Canada a tourist cottage in Ontario proper nameAdanac[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 ; ; 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 Arbok Kobra Pokemon resembling a cobra proper name Azed Deza pen name of Jonathan Crowther, after Spanish inquisitor Diego Deza pseudonym Room (2010), p.40 [C. W.] Ceram Marec pen name of German journalist K. W. Marek (latinized Marec) pseudonym Room (2010), p.99 Dioretsa asteroid asteroid with retrograde orbit proper name Dnoces "second" Apollo program joke by Grissom, after Edward H. White II proper nameEbbot [Lundberg] Tobbe Tobbe is the usual hypocoristic of his given name Torbjörn pseudonym Eivets Rednow Stevie Wonder album name Ekans Snake Pokemon resembling a snake proper name elgooG Google reverse-spelling search engine company name Navi Ivan Apollo program joke by Virgil Ivan Grissom proper name 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 Erised "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 Esio Trot "tortoise" children's book by Roald Dahl 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 I.D.F.B (dnalsI maerD roF elttaB)Battle for Dream IslandThe third season of Battle For Dream Island.web series 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 Kroz Zork homage to older computer game product name Livic "civil [engineering]" trade newspaper, "a reflection of Civil Engineering" company name Llamedos "sod 'em all" in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (compare Llareggub) proper name Llareggub "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 Niloak Pottery "kaolin" material used in products company name Nitsuga Agustín stage name of Agustín Barrios-Mangoré pseudonym Nogard "dragon" character in Alan F. Beck art series The Adventures of Nogard & Jackpot proper name Alan F. Beck, The Adventures of Nogard & Jackpot , 2009. Nomad Damon named for founding member Damon Rochefort band nameNomar [Garciaparra] Ramon for his father, Ramon Garciaparra proper nameNotsuohHoustonname of a historic carnival festival celebrated in Houston from 1899 until World War I. Also a bar in downtown Houstonproper 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 Rae Sremmurd"Ear" "Drummers"first act signed to hip-hop label EarDrummers Recordsband 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 Rekkof Aircraft Fokker Rekkof aircraft are based on Fokker designs. Also Rekkof Restart. Now Fokker Next Gen. company name 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 (Rokkugo) 거꾸로 (gokkuro) backwards for Korean for "backwards" song name Rotanev Venator after Niccolò Cacciatore (Called Nicolaus Venator in Latin) proper name Seltaeb Beatles the Beatles' merchandising company company name Senim Silla "All is mines." stage name of hip hop artist Ross Rowe; "mines" is African-American Vernacular for "mine" pseudonym 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 nameSiriIrisIris is a Greek messenger and servant to the Olympians. Siri is the virtual assistant from Apple.mythology & product 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 Tesremos Somerset pen name of Derrick Somerset Macnutt pseudonymRoom (2010), p.517 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 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 Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord computer game named after its programmers proper nameTrugoy [the Dove] "yogurt" stage name of David Jude Jolicoeur, due to his fondness for yogurt pseudonym Xvid DivX a competitor company name Yarg 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
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.
See also Anagram Back slang, use of invented anadromes as coded language List of geographic anagrams and ananyms Palindrome Verlan :Category:Names derived from word reversals
Notes
References
External links