Palindromes in Arabic: examples and history

Palindromes are an interesting part of language that shows the beauty and symmetry of words. They are phrases or numbers that read the same forwards and backwards, allowing for a fun exploration of creativity.

Found in many languages and cultures, palindromes each bring their own uniqueness.

This article will look at palindromes in Arabic along with notable examples, their history, and the enjoyment they provide.

Do palindromes exist in Arabic?

Yes, palindromes exist in Arabic!

Let’s check the following sentence: زوج عجوز

The sentence means an old spouse/husband. It is a palindrome. You can read it from right to left or right to left. The arrangement of the letters is the same.

Try to read the following examples in Arabic first from right to left (as usual) and then from LEFT to RIGHT. The letter combination is the same!

Do palindromes exist in the Qur’an?

Yes, they do.

A famous example of the Qur’an is found in Sura 21, al-Anbiya (the Prophets), verse 21:33. Note: Obviously it doesn’t work when the Tashkeel are written.

In Arabic, palindromes are called الْقَلْب المُسْتَوي

The term is derived from the verb قَلَبَ (to turn around; to invert, …).

قَلْب grammatically speaking means transposition of letters; reversal, inversion. And مُستَوٍ means regular; straight.

Palindromes are great fun. Since we don’t have a root system in English, they are easier to form.

Examples in English

Here are some famous examples of palindromes in English:

• Madam
• level
• A Toyota’s a Toyota.
• Do Geese See God?
• Dammit, I’m Mad!

Examples in German

Some examples of palindromes in German:

• Anna; Otto.
• Probably one of the longest German palindrome (single word) is: Retsinakanister (a canister of a greek wine).
• And the longest palindrome sentence in German: Geist ziert Leben, Mut hegt Siege, Beileid trägt belegbare Reue, Neid dient nie, nun eint Neid die Neuerer, abgelebt gärt die Liebe, Geist geht, umnebelt reizt Sieg.

Palindromes have a long history and go back least to 79 AD – to a graffito at Herculaneum, a city buried by ash in that year. This palindrome, called the Sator Square, consists of a sentence written in Latin: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas (The sower Arepo holds with effort the wheels).

It is stunning because there is more than just the reading direction: The letters of the first word serve as the first letters of the following words: S-A-T-O-R. Therefore, the sentence can be arranged into a word square that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from either top left to bottom right or bottom right to top left.

Linguists also know the term heteropalindrome. It describes a word that can be read in both directions – however, you will get different words when you read it forward and backward. For example: deliver and reviled.

Arabic Collection of Douglas Fink

Douglas Fink, a reader from the United States, collects palindromes in all languages (“Lisa Bonet ate no basil.” is his famous English one).

He wanted to share his Arabic collection with us (many thanks!):

• ‏كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ‎ -Qur’an (Sura 36:40)
• ‏رَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ‎ – Qur’an (Sura 74:3)
• أرض خضراء
• ‏بَكْرُ مُعَلَّقٌ بِقِلْعِ مَرْكَبٍ
• ‏بَلَحٌ تَعَلَّقَ بِقَلْعَةِ حَلَبَ‎
• تزوج عجوزة
• ‏حِصَانٌ نَاصِحٌ‎
• ‏دَامَ عَلَاءُ الْعِمَادُ‎
• ربك فكبر
• ‏زَوْجٌ عَجُوزٌ‎
• ‏سر فَلَا كَبَا بِكَ الْفَرَسُ‎
• سور حماه بربها محروس
• صان ناصح
• ‏كَبُرَتْ آيَاتُ رَبِّكَ‎
• ‏كَمَالُكَ تَحْتَ كَلَامِكَ