The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

AARDWOLF

/ˈɑːdwʊlf/8 letters

Definition of AARDWOLF

noun

A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal (Proteles cristatus), having yellowish fur with vertical black stripes, and a long mane down the midline of the neck and back; it is related to and resembles the hyena, and is native to eastern and southern Africa.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

Borrowed from South African Dutch aardwolf (whence Afrikaans aardwolf), from aard- (prefix meaning ‘earth’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- (“earth”), probably from the fact that the animal rests in burrows in the ground during the day) + wolf (“wolf”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”)), influenced by English wolf (the second element of aardwolf is pronounced like that word, and one plural form is aardwolves; the Dutch plural form is aardwolven).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

AARDWOLF in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 61 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 99
Its 25 boards, across 99 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
25
Boards found on
26
First board
99
Latest board
14
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 99, 27 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First ever to find it

wordifier

on Day 40, 29 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

AARDWOLF
8
Letters
3
Vowels
5
Consonants
7
Different letters
3
Longest consonant run
2
Longest vowel run

AARDWOLF starts with A and ends with F. Sorted, its letters read AADFLORW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once, including a double letter.

Words that start AARDWO

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found AARDWOLF?

OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 26 - and most players walked straight past it.

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