The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BARREL
Definition of BARREL
noun
A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternative connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic *𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃 (*bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz, *bērilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
7 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,895)
How it is built
Same root, BARREL · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English, Old Norse.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BARREL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 151, 18 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 19 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 151, 18 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BARREL starts with B and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ABELRR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. R appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start BARREL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found BARREL?
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 151 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER