The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

CANAL

/kəˈnæl/5 letters

Definition of CANAL

noun

An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Middle French canal, from Old French canal, from Latin canālis (“channel, canal, narrow passage”), from canna (“reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”). Doublet of channel. See also cane and -al.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Word DNA

Line of descent

  1. Ancient Greek
  2. Latin
  3. Old French
  4. Middle French
  5. English

4 recorded generations before English.

Ancient Greek

Deepest traced root

3rd

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

12.4%

of traced words share this origin (10,043)

Hellenic

branch · 12.4% of traced words

How it is built

noun2 syllables-al

Same root, CANAL · 7 relatives in the game

Every Ancient Greek word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

CANAL in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 9 boards so far. 14 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 162
Its 9 boards, across 162 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
9
Boards found on
24
First board
154
Latest board
47
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.

First ever to find it

shandoria

on Day 24, 13 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Also on

Built from these letters

CANAL
5
Letters
2
Vowels
3
Consonants
4
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

CANAL starts with C and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AACLN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.

Words that start CANAL

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

CANALSCANALEDCANALINGCANALISECANALIZECANALLEDCANALLERCANALBOATCANALISEDCANALISESCANALIZEDCANALIZES

Could you have found CANAL?

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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER