Palindromes in Turkish: A Fun Exploration

If you have a friend whose name is Hannah, Anna, or Eve, you probably know what a palindrome is. These are words and sentences that read the same backwards as they do forwards. Some English examples include racecar and Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.

"Taco cat" is another famous English palindrome

Palindromic words are much more plentiful in Turkish, owing to the agglutinative nature of the language. Similarly, palindromic sentences are a lot more common — thanks to vowel harmony, words are more likely to have the same vowels, which makes it much easier to construct such sentences.

1. Palindrome words in Turkish

There are two types of palindromic words in Turkish. The first type is palindromic stems — words that are palindromic in their own right, without needing any case suffixes or copulas. These palindromes tend to be on the shorter end, usually between 3 to 6 letters.

• ana — mother

• âlâ — fine, superior

• ebe — midwife

• neden — why

• kazak — sweater

• küllük — ashtray

• kılıççılık — swordsmanship (at 10 letters long, this is the longest palindromic stem I have found so far)

The second type, suffixed palindromes, is where it gets interesting. These are palindromes created by attaching suffixes to non-palindromic words. Suffixed palindromes have weird meanings out of context, and they can get pretty lengthy. In the examples below, the root word of each palindrome is marked in bold.

• anısına — in memory of

• enine — horizontally (en = width)

• izinizi — your trace (accusative)

• kessek — let's cut

• umudumu — my hope (accusative)

• ününü — your fame (accusative)

• üzümümüzü — our grape (accusative)

Proper nouns also make for great suffixed palindromes.

• Adana'da — in Adana (a city in Turkey)

• Nur'un — belonging to Nur (a female first name)

• Şumnu'nunmuş — Apparently, it is of Şumnu (a city in Bulgaria)

2. Palindrome sentences in Turkish

Perfect palindromic sentences are ones where you don't chop up the words while reading the sentence backwards. Such sentences are marked in bold. Additionally, my favorite palindromes are underlined.

• Ana, Naci dede ne dedi Canan'a? — Mother, what did grandpa Naci say to Canan?

• Anastas, mum satsana. — Anastasia, sell candles.

• At, sahibi gibi hasta. — The horse is sick like its owner.

• Ayla'da mı madalya? — Does Ayla have the medal?

• Ayol abla, keten etek al baloya. — Oh sister, buy a linen skirt for the ball.

• Emre ve kıza yazık, everme. — It would be a shame for Emre and the girl, don't wed (them).

• Ey Edip, Adana'da pide ye. — Hey, Edip, eat pide in Adana.

• Ey Nihat, Adana'da tahin ye. — Hey, Nihat, eat tahini in Adana.

• İmrensem adama madam esner mi? — If I envy the man, would the madame yawn?

• Kalas yok, kütük koy, salak. — There is no plank, put a log, idiot.

• Kalsın, o don ıslak. — No need, those underpants are wet.

• Kesti geveze, tez eve gitsek. — The babbler shut up, let's go home quickly.

• Kıl, arap, iki namaz ama zaman iki paralık. — Perform salah (Islamic prayer) twice, Arab, but time is worth two coins.

• Merkez Emel'e gelemez, Ekrem. — The center cannot come to Emel, Ekrem.

• Nine, son işin o senin. — Grandma, that's your last job.

• Para hazır ama Rıza harap. — The money is ready, but Rıza is a wreck.

• Pay ederek iki kerede yap. — Do it in two sittings by dividing it.

• Rıza, Haluk okula hazır. — Rıza, Haluk is ready for school.

• Sert Emin'e yeni metres. — A new mistress for Hard Emin.

• Takas çok ama koç sakat. — Trade is plenty, but the ram is lame.

• Yaşa da kraliçe seçil, arkadaş, ay. — Live so that you're elected as the queen, my friend, aye.

• Zaman yorar, akıl kahreder, haklı karar oynamaz. — Time tires, the mind devastates, and the right decision doesn't budge.

What were your favorite Turkish palindromes? Do you know any palindromes in your mother tongue? Don't forget to share in the comments below!