The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BROKEN
Definition of BROKEN
verb
past participle of break
verb
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English broken, from Old English brocen, ġebrocen, from Proto-Germanic *brukanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”). Cognate with Dutch gebroken (“broken”), German Low German broken (“broken”), German gebrochen (“broken”). Morphologically broke + -n.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,750)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, BROKEN · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BROKEN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 33 boards so far. 100 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 3, 24 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 151, 18 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 10 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 3, 24 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BROKEN starts with B and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read BEKNOR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start BROKEN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 3
Could you have found BROKEN?
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 3 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER