ambigram

Etymology

From ambi- + -gram. Coined by Douglas Hofstadter in 1983-1984.

Why this word is great

AMBIGRAM — [Noun] A calligraphic design that may be read as the same word or phrase (or sometimes different words or phrases) when oriented in two different ways, usually when reflected along a vertical or horizontal axis or when rotated through 180 degrees. From ambi- ("both") + -gram ("drawing, writing, record"); coined by Douglas Hofstadter in 1983-1984. Unlike "palindrome" (which plays with sequence, not form) or "logogram" (which fixes meaning to a static shape), an ambigram is a visual sleight of hand, a glyphic metamorphosis. It is the word "sun" flipping upside-down to become "moon," the inked symmetry of a tattoo that reads "love" one way and "hate" the other, or a corporate logo that remains legible even when spun like a wheel—proof that meaning, like perspective, is never absolute.

noun

A calligraphic design that may be read as the same word or phrase (or sometimes different words or phrases) when oriented in two different ways, usually when reflected along a vertical or horizontal axis or when rotated through 180 degrees.“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.”