The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ABLAUT
Definition of ABLAUT
noun
The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from German Ablaut (“sound gradation”), which is from ab- or ab (“down, off”), + Laut (“sound”). Ab is used here in the sense of “deviating, varying” as in Abgott (“god other than the true God”), Abart (“different sort, variety, anomality”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- German
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.1%
of traced words share this origin (888)
branch · 22.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ABLAUT · 1 relative in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ABLAUT in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 20 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 34, 23 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 138, 5 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 34, 23 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ABLAUT starts with A and ends with T. Sorted, its letters read AABLTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 34
Could you have found ABLAUT?
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 34 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER