The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ASTONISH
Definition of ASTONISH
verb
To surprise greatly.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Probably an alteration (due to words ending in -ish: abolish, banish, cherish, establish, furnish, etc.) of earlier astony, astone, astun (“to astonish, stun”), from Middle English astoneyen, astonen (“to stun, astonish”), variant of stonen, stoneyen (“to stun, astonish”) prefixed with a-. However, compare Old French estonir, a rare variant of estoner (“to stun, astonish”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
6.2%
of traced words share this origin (4,883)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ASTONISH · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Old French.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ASTONISH in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 21 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 140, 7 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ASTONISH starts with A and ends with H. Sorted, its letters read AHINOSST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once.
Words that start ASTONI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found ASTONISH?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER