10 Cool Palindromes You Didn’t Know Existed

Palindromes—words, phrases, or sequences that read the same forwards and backwards—have fascinated word nerds, math geeks, and language lovers for centuries. Sure, we all know simple examples like “mom” or “racecar,” but the world of palindromes goes way deeper than these everyday terms. These symmetrical linguistic oddities pop up everywhere from ancient inscriptions to cutting-edge science, and some of them will seriously mess with your head.

Read More: 10 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Mean

10The Mysterious Sator Square

The Sator Square might be the oldest mind-bender in recorded history: “SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS.” Dating back to the 1st century CE, archaeologists have found this five-word Latin palindrome carved into ancient Roman ruins and early Christian churches all over Europe. What’s truly wild about this palindrome isn’t just its age but its perfect symmetry—you can read it top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, left-to-right, or right-to-left. Nobody’s entirely sure what it means (roughly “The sower Arepo holds with effort the wheels”), but many think it held some kind of mystical or religious significance, possibly even serving as a secret Christian symbol during times when being Christian could get you killed.

9Saippuakivikauppias: The Longest Single-Word Palindrome

Think “racecar” is impressive? Finnish speakers are laughing at our measly 7-letter palindromes. Their language boasts “Saippuakivikauppias,” meaning “soapstone vendor,” weighing in at a whopping 19 letters. Finnish, with its compound words and consistent spelling, is basically a palindrome-making machine. This tongue-twister puts English’s best effort, “redivider,” to absolute shame.

8Mark Saltveit’s Championship-Winning Creation

In 2012, at the first-ever World Palindrome Championship in Brooklyn, Mark Saltveit crushed the competition with this beautifully bizarre creation: “Devil Kay fixes trapeze part; sex if yak lived.” What makes this even more impressive? He came up with it under pressure, drawing from his personal collection of over 29,000 palindromic fragments that he’s built up over decades. According to Saltveit, a truly great palindrome doesn’t just work technically, but it tells a story or paints a weird picture while maintaining perfect symmetry. The guy is so obsessed with palindromes that he publishes The Palindromist, a niche magazine with about 200 subscribers who are just as palindrome-crazy as he is.

7Palindromic Hat-Trick Mathematical Theorem

Palindromes get seriously mind-bending when they jump from language to math. Three math wizards—Javier Cilleruelo, Florian Luca, and Lewis Baxter—proved that you can express any positive number as the sum of exactly three palindromic numbers [6]. Take the number 613: you can write it as 505 + 88 + 20 (505 and 88 are palindromes in base 10, and 20 is a palindrome in base 20). This weird math trick works not just in our everyday base-10 system but in any number base from 5 upwards. The proof required some seriously complex number-crunching, showing that palindromes aren’t just wordplay but are baked into the fabric of mathematics itself.

6Biological Palindromes in DNA

The most important palindromes might not be in dictionaries but inside your cells. DNA can form palindromic structures where the sequence reads the same in both directions on complementary strands. These aren’t exactly like word palindromes—instead of repeating the exact same letters, they follow specific pairing rules where A pairs with T and G pairs with C. For example, “GAATTC” is palindromic because its complementary strand reads “CTTAAG,” which, flipped backward, gives “GAATTC” again. These structures aren’t just cool genetic quirks—they’re crucial for restriction enzymes to cut DNA at specific spots, making them the backbone of genetic engineering, gene cloning, and pretty much all modern biotech.

5Peter Hilton’s Dietary Palindrome

During WWII, mathematician Peter Hilton helped Alan Turing crack German codes at Bletchley Park. When he wasn’t busy helping win the war, Hilton found time to create one of the most impressive palindromes ever: “Doc, note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.” The 39-letter mind-bender is amazing not just for its length but because it actually makes sense—and Hilton supposedly constructed it entirely in his head. This palindrome got a second wind after being mentioned in the movie The Imitation Game, giving us a glimpse into the kind of brain-power the Bletchley Park team had at their disposal.

4Aibohphobia: The Ironic Fear

Someone out there had a wicked sense of humor when they coined “aibohphobia” as the term for fear of palindromes—making the actual word a palindrome. It’s the ultimate linguistic troll job, since anyone with this condition would be terrified of the very word that describes their fear. While you won’t find it in medical textbooks, this clever wordplay shows how palindromes can create delicious self-referential jokes and linguistic paradoxes.

3Palindromic Visual Art

Palindromes aren’t just for word nerds—visual artists have gotten in on the action too. Photographer Harold Davis captured this concept perfectly in his image “Reflections in the Untersee,” which looks equally awesome right-side up or upside down. This “visual palindrome” works because the water’s reflection creates a mirror image that’s practically identical to the original scene. Davis plans to display this as a palindromic diptych with the original version on one side and the flipped version on the other—basically a visual commentary on reflection and symmetry.

2Sotades the Obscene: The First Palindromist

Long before Twitter gave us anonymous trolls, a Greek poet named Sotades was creating satirical palindromes in the 3rd century BCE—with deadly consequences. Mark Saltveit’s research revealed that Sotades made palindromes mocking King Ptolemy II. The king didn’t exactly appreciate the wordplay. Legend has it he had Sotades sealed in a lead jar and tossed into the sea. While most of his works haven’t survived, his name lives on in “Sotadic verses,” meaning palindromic poetry.

1The Palindromic Symphony

In 1772, composer Joseph Haydn pulled off a musical palindrome that would make any word nerd swoon. The third movement of his Symphony No. 47 in G Major (nicknamed “The Palindrome”) features a section where the second half is literally the first half played backwards—note for note. What’s truly impressive is that Haydn had to make sure the music sounded beautiful and harmonious both forwards and backwards, all while following the strict rules of 18th-century classical composition. This musical palindrome shows how these symmetrical structures stretch beyond language into other creative forms, challenging artists to make works that hold up when experienced in reverse.