Semordnilap is a word playfully coined by word-game lovers sometime in the mid-20th century. While a palindrome reads the same way backwards or forwards (otto, kayak), a semordnilap (itself a ...

If a palindrome is a word that reads the same backwards as forwards, then a semordnilap is a word that spells out a different word when read backwards, like stressed and desserts, or diaper and repaid ...

If you worked as a typist for Merriam-Webster in the pre-internet era, one of your tasks would have been typing out every word spelled backwards. While this sounds absurd, there's an excellent reason ...

For familiar words up to about four syllables, Michal Sklar tells PEOPLE she doesn’t have to think about reversing them: “The backwards version just comes to me” ...