The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
AXLE
Definition of AXLE
noun
Shoulder.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English axel, axle, eaxle, from Old English eaxl (“shoulder, armpit”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahslu (“shoulder”), from Proto-Germanic *ahslō (“shoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs-l-eh₂, from *h₂eḱs- (“axis, axle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian acsle (“shoulder”), Dutch oksel (“armpit”), German Achsel (“armpit”), Swedish axel (“shoulder”), Latin axilla (“armpit”), Latin axis (“axle”) (whence English axis, atelier, and via Latin āla English ala, aisle), Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn) (whence English axo-, axon), Greek άξονας (áxonas, “axle”), Sanskrit अक्ष (ákṣa, “axle”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣá, “room, armpit”), Russian ось (osʹ, “axle”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
AXLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 49 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 32, 21 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 105, 2 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First found by a player on Day 32, 21 June 2026.
Built from these letters
AXLE starts with A and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AELX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.
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 AXLE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 32
Could you have found AXLE?
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 32 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER