Palindromes (9, 10 and 12 Letters)

Palindromes (9, 10 and 12 Letters)

12 letters

tattarrattat: the longest palindrome in the Oxford English Dictionary, coined by James Joyce in Ulysses for a knock on the door

11 letters

aibohphobia: a joke word meaning “fear of palindromes”, deliberately constructed so as to be one (various other words have been contrived along these lines, such as ailihphilia, a love of palindromes, elihphile, a lover of palindromes, etc.)

detartrated: past tense of “to detartrate”, a chemical term meaning to remove tartrates; alternatively an adjective indicating that tartrates have indeed been removed (this is the longest English palindrome in the Guinness Book of Records, though it is not listed in dictionaries; it is, however, encountered in some discussions of Concord grape juice 1)

kinnikinnik: variant (or common misspelling) of kinnikinnick, a Native American smoking mixture

Nine letters

Malayalam: An Indian Language (Mother tongue of Keralites)

deleveled: past tense and past participle of “delevel”, to demote or be demoted to a lower level

evitative: a grammatical case indicating fear or aversion

redivider: someone or something that redivides (tied for longest “real” palindrome that is not a proper noun and that appears in English dictionaries)

releveler: (American spelling) someone or something that levels again (tied for longest “real” palindrome that is not a proper noun and that appears in English dictionaries).

Rotavator: a type of machine for breaking up soil (trademark)