Advertisement

Palindrome week underway: Stretch of 10 dates read the same backward and forward

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The first string of palindrome dates this year, which began on 1-20-21 and will end on 1-29-21, is now underway.

The ten-day streak began on Inauguration Day with a rare seven-digit palindrome — a first in American history, according to the Farmers' Almanac. The next time that will happen isn't for another 1,000 years on Jan. 20, 3021.

Wednesday's seven-digit palindrome is one of 26 such dates in the 21st century.

A palindrome is a word, verse, sentence, or number that reads the same backward and forward, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

This year is filled with 22 palindrome dates, which is remarkable because there are only two years in a century where this can happen: the years ending in 11 and 21, according to Dr. Aziz Inan, a professor at the University of Portland who has been studying palindrome dates for over a decade.

ADVERTISEMENT

"The year 2011 had 22 (palindrome dates), and in the next century, they will be found in 2111 and 2121," Inan said to Farmer's Almanac.

Another stretch of palindrome dates this year will start on Dec. 1, jump-starting nine consecutive days filled with five-digit palindromes.

There was already one palindrome this year, 1-2-21, which was a four-digit date. There are 19 five-digit palindromes this year, plus two six-digit ones, per the Farmers' Almanac.

Jan. 20, 2021, will jump-start 10 consecutive palindrome days – dates that read the same forward and backward.
Jan. 20, 2021, will jump-start 10 consecutive palindrome days – dates that read the same forward and backward.

List of palindrome dates in 2021

  • 1-2-21

  • 1-20-21 (Also a seven-digit palindrome: 1-20-2021)

  • 1-21-21

  • 1-22-21

  • 1-23-21

  • 1-24-21

  • 1-25-21

  • 1-26-21

  • 1-27-21

  • 1-28-21

  • 1-29-21

  • 12-1-21

  • 12-2-21 (Also an eight-digit palindrome: 12-02-2021)

  • 12-3-21

  • 12-4-21

  • 12-5-21

  • 12-6-21

  • 12-7-21

  • 12-8-21

  • 12-9-21

  • 12-11-21

  • 12-22-21

Contributing: Jay Cannon, USA TODAY

Follow reporter Daniella Medina on Twitter @danimedinanews

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Palindrome week: 10 dates read the same backward and forward