Monday Word: Ambigram

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

am​bi​gram [am-bə-ˌgram]

noun

1. something (such as an image of a written word or phrase) that is intended or able to be oriented in either of two ways for viewing or reading

examples
1. The extremely cool ambigram on the cover of the book is what initially intrigued me and led me to pick the book up when I found it on my parents' bookshelf. Angels and Demons Teaser Trailer | /Film 2008

2. The Princess Bride title art is an ambigram.
(20th anniversary collector's edition)

origin
The word was introduced by the author and cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter (born 1945) in chapter 13 of the book Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern (New York, 1985).

ambi- + -gram

ambi

a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, meaning “both” and “around”

gram

a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written,” “drawing"


[Wordsmith's Note: I have seen tattoos with these, but I didn't know there was a name for it.}

Comments

[adafrog]

Neat.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

😊

[falkner]

I find it fascinating that this word was coined in 1985; I would have assumed that a word for it already existed, maybe from when manuscripts where being written by hand with fancy lettering.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Right? Like palindromes surely the concept is older but maybe there wasn't a widely accepted term.

[prettygoodword]

I love these -- I had Scott Kim's book Inversions from 1981, and apparently Hofstadter coined the word to describe what Kim was already doing. (Dang, that thing's going for $200+? I shouldn't have lost it during a move.)

I like watching what people come up with in r/ambigrams

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Ah, interesting. Yeah, I liked looking at the examples. dollop

[sallymn]

Great word!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!