I know that Japanese allows this: there are words in reverse order where the placement of 2 kanji can be “flipped” within the same word while retaining a related definition, i.e. 栄光 (glory) & 光栄 (honor), more examples range from:
- 別離 (parting) & 離別 (separation)
- 関連 (connection) & 連関 (relation)
- 礼儀 (manners) & 儀礼 (ettiquette)
- 陸上 (landing) & 上陸 (ground)
- 発散 (emission) & 散発 (sporadic)
- 進行 (advance) & 行進 (parade)
- 議会 (assembly) & 会議 (meeting)
- 木材 (lumber) & 材木 (timber)
- 王国 (kingdom) & 国王 (monarch)
- 火花 (spark) & 花火 (fireworks)
- 明言 (statement) & 言明 (assertion)
- 論評 (criticism) & 評論 (critique)
You get the picture, but can you do the same thing with the English language for example? As well as other European languages in general?
French has verlan, a slang in which words are reversed in a similar way, so that we say them differently, but they mean the same thing. “louche” means “suspicious”, but is often said as “chelou”.
It’s not the same effect, but a similar structural pattern.
It’s not even always swapping syllables. Some people say “meuf” as slang for “femme”, even though the word has only one syllable.
I’m not a French speaker from birth, so I don’t know how common this slang is. I know we find it near Paris.