The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CHILDES
Definition of CHILDES
Wiktionary has no entry for CHILDES itself. This is its base word, CHILDE.
noun
Plural of childe: a young man of noble birth awaiting knighthood.
Where it comes from
The origin recorded for CHILDE.
From Middle English child, from Old English ċild, from Proto-West Germanic *kilþ, *kelþ, from Proto-Germanic *kelþaz (“womb; fetus”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵelt- (“womb”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Danish kuld (“brood, litter”), Swedish kull (“brood, litter”), Icelandic kelta, kjalta (“lap”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (kilþei, “womb”), Sanskrit जर्त (jarta), जर्तु (jártu, “vulva”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,769)
How it is built
Same root, CHILD · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Icelandic, Sanskrit, Swedish.
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.
CHILDES in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 5 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 72, 31 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 114, 11 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 53 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 80, 8 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CHILDES starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CDEHILS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 CHILDE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found CHILDES?
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 72 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER