6

I'm thinking of getting a SONOS sound system and have realised that it's an example of a special class of word. It's a palindrome, it's a rotational ambigram and it is also a word that is the same upside down.

Any palindrome that uses, exclusively, H I N O S X Z (also some versions of lower case f and l) will share this characteristic .

Is there a special name for this ?

| improve this question | |
  • 4
    it's only the same upside-down if rotated, rather than reflected. – Phil M Jones Jan 28 '15 at 14:39
  • Thanks @PhilMJones. I've corrected my question. An additional term may be needed ! – Dan Jan 28 '15 at 15:27
  • possible duplicate: Word for number or word that reads the same when inverted or mirrored – ermanen Jan 28 '15 at 15:53
  • Not answered there clearly. Would it be a dihedral or a tetradic ambigram !? – Dan Jan 29 '15 at 13:38
  • It was answered quite clearly in the linked question. It is a rotational ambigram. Your question was is there a special name and the answer is that it is a rotational ambigram. If you want something more descriptive you'll need to append some extra words on there to modify it to fit your needs. Language, yo. – Dave Magner Jan 29 '15 at 21:38
1

Perhaps "palindromic rotational ambigram"? I just stuck "palindromic" on the front of "rotational ambigram".

I don't think there's a term with fewer than three words to describe what you want.

(I'm not sure the distinction from "rotational ambigram" is necessary, as most rotational ambigrams seem to be palindromic--I'm guessing designing those is just easier--but it's your language. More concise is okay, and more words are okay.)

| improve this answer | |
  • 1
    People clever with fonts seem to be able to make all kinds of rotational ambigrams that are not palindromic - see, for example, the illustrations on the right column, for ambigram and chumps - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram. But you are probably right that I should be happy with palindromic rotational ambigrams ! – Dan Feb 7 '15 at 21:06
  • (looking through old posts I see this should have had my tick - sorry for the delay!) – Dan Nov 6 '15 at 10:43

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.