Reverse dictionary

The first computer-produced was Stahl and Scavnicky's A Reverse Dictionary of the Spanish Language, in 1974.

[1] The first computer-produced reverse dictionary for a single text was Wisbey, R., Vollständige Verskonkordanz zur Wiener Genesis.

Mit einem rückläufigen Wörterbuch zum Formenbestand, Berlin, E. Schmidt, 1967.

This can be useful for linguists and poets looking for words ending with a particular suffix, or by an epigrapher or forensics specialist examining a damaged text (e.g. a stone inscription, or a burned document) that had only the final portion of a word.

By the same token, reverse dictionaries have become less important since online word lists can be searched dynamically.