ambigram
English
An ambigram of the word ambigram
Etymology
From ambi- + -gram. Coined by Douglas Hofstadter.[1]
Noun
ambigram (plural ambigrams)
- A design that may be read as the same word, name or phrase (or sometimes two different words, names or phrases) when oriented in two different ways, usually when reflected along a vertical or horizontal axis or when rotated through 180 degrees.
- 1992, John Langdon, Wordplay, 2005, page 52,
- Two nonvisual factors provide dissymmetry and prevent the ambigram from existing in a static equilibrium; most of the letters in an ambigram metamorphose into other letters when reversed; and each of those accompanying sentences provides a different idea of the word's meaning.
- 1997, Research and Education Networking, Volume 8, Issues 1-6, page 290,
- An ambigram is a word that reads the same right-side-up and upside-down. MOW is a natural ambigram, for instance, but any word can be flipped if the right graphic artist gets his hands on it.
- 2007, Douglas Hofstadter, I Am a Strange Loop, page 312:
- Next, I imagine that Switch #2 causes me every single weekend (and every other spare moment as well) to elect, instead of designing ambigrams or working hard on my book about being a strange loop, to spend hours on end watching professional football games on a huge-screen television and delightedly ogling all the busty babes in the beer ads.
- 1992, John Langdon, Wordplay, 2005, page 52,
Translations
design that reads as the same word or phrase in two different orientations
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References
- 2000, Jill Britton, Symmetry and Tessellations, page 179—You will also find other "ambigrams" (the generic term for inversions, coined by cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter) on the web.