The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BUSTLE
Definition of BUSTLE
noun
An excited activity; a stir.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”). The etymology of noun sense 3 is uncertain, perhaps related to busk (“strip in a corset”) or German Buschel.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old Norse
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
16th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.7%
of traced words share this origin (208)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, BUSTLE · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names German, Icelandic.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BUSTLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 31 boards so far. 83 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 34, 23 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 146, 13 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 34, 23 June 2026.
Built from these letters
BUSTLE starts with B and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read BELSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
5 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start BUSTLE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 34
Could you have found BUSTLE?
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 34 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER