A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of symbols or elements, whose meaning may be interpreted the same way in either forward or reverse direction. Famous examples include "Amore, Roma", "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama" and "No 'x' in 'Nixon'".
Composing literature in palindromes is an example of constrained writing. The word "palindrome" was coined from the Greek roots ' (; "again") and ' (; "way, direction") by the English writer Ben Jonson in the 17th century. The Greek phrase to describe the phenomenon is ' (; "crab inscription"), or simply karkinoi (; "crabs"),...