I'd like know where I can find a list of anagrams, which could be easily created from a corpus of words, just selecting those with the same number of the same characters yet in different positions.

Furthermore, I'd like to know how this concept can be used for characters themselves, transposing radicals or even strokes.


Why do you need that? We never use that in China.

However, palindrome is more often to see but it is still rare. You might see palindrome in ancient Chinese literary poetry composition or in 对联.


There are quite a few here:
We could start a list, just for fun:

However, what if the characters remain the same, but the tone changes? The meaning alters, so is that an anagram? Like: 精神？ If you just consider the pinyin, jingshen will throw up quite a few results in different tone and character combinations. Are they anagrams? Strictly speaking, anagrams are different combinations of the same letters, like 'dog', 'god'. I think you would first need a definition of 'anagram' specifically for Chinese!

  • Thanks so much for answering. I think characters (either simplified or traditional) would be the units taken into account to definite 'chinese anagram', but certainly a different pronunciation, either with a different meaning or not, would have to be taken as a subtype of 'chinese anagram'. Regarding 精神, could you please elaborate a bit? I am not skilled in Chinese yet. – GJC Jun 12 '17 at 8:53

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