The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ALOOF
Definition of ALOOF
adverb
At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle Dutch
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
19th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.6%
of traced words share this origin (461)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ALOOF · 2 relatives 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.
ALOOF in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 52 boards so far. 138 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 166, 2 November 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
ALOOF starts with A and ends with F. Sorted, its letters read AFLOO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O appears more than once, including a double letter.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start ALOOF
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found ALOOF?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER