9 words created by spelling other words backwards

Fancy some "semordnilaps"?

Oprah
(Image credit: (Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images))

"Semordnilap" is a word playfully coined by word-game lovers some time in the mid 20th century. While a palindrome reads the same way backwards or forwards (otto, kayak), a semordnilap (itself a semordnilap of "palindromes") makes a completely different word when spelled backwards. While there are some semordnilaps that arose by chance (desserts-stressed, diaper-repaid), there are many, like "semordnilap," that were created on purpose, usually to not-so-covertly hint at the words they happen to be reversing. Here are nine words, besides semordnilap, expressly built to be semordnilaps.

1. YENSID

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Arika Okrent

Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.