1. A word, verse, or sentence that reads exactly the same backward as forward: The best known palindrome is probably the remark Napoleon supposedly made when he was banished to the island of Elba after his removal as emperor of France: "Able was I ere I saw Elba."

Here are other examples of palindromes: "Sore was I ere I saw Eros" and "Live was I ere I saw evil".

There was a special palindrome which was created for Time magazine: "Live on, Time, emit no evil."

A Latin palindrome has a sentence that not only reads backward but also has each word that reads backward: Sator arepo tenet opera rotas. It is translated as, "Sator [a man's name] holds the handles of the plow in plowing."

In addition, the first letter of each word spells the first word, Sator, the second letter of each word spells the second word, arepo, and so on through the sentence, and this is also true when you do it backwards.

2. Etymology: from Greek palindromos, "running back again, recurring"; from palin, "again" + dromos, "a running"

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A click with your mouse on this palindromes link will take you to a list which is available for your examination.

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