'palindrome' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'palíndromos', where 'palin-' meant 'again' and 'drómos' meant 'running/course.'

'palíndromos' passed into Late Latin as 'palindromus', then into French as 'palindrome', and eventually became the modern English word 'palindrome.'

Initially, it meant 'running back again'; it later specialized to denote verses or words that read the same backward, and has since broadened to cover phrases, numbers, and other symmetric sequences.