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CLEAN
Definition of CLEAN
adjective
Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English clene, from Old English clāne, clǣne (“clean; pure; clear”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“dainty, fine, small; clean”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Alemannic German chlei, chli, chlii, chly, klei (“small”), Bavarian gloa, kla, klaa, kloa, kloan (“small; young; insignificant”), Central Franconian and Low German kleen (“small”), Cimbrian khlòan, khlumma (“small”), Dutch and German klein (“small”), Limburgish klein, kléïn (“small”), Luxembourgish kleng (“small”), Mòcheno khloa'n (“small”), Vilamovian klin (“small”), Yiddish קליין (kleyn, “small”), Danish klejn (“delicate, tiny”), Faroese klænur (“slight, slim, thin”), Icelandic klénn (“feeble, poor; indisposed; short; lame; good, pretty, snug”), Norwegian Bokmål klein, klen (“slender; sick; feeble; bad, poor, weak; inept”), Swedish klen (“weak”).
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 (11,575)
How it is built
Same root, CLEAN · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish.
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.
CLEAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 14 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 9, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 9 days.
First found by a player on Day 9, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
CLEAN starts with C and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACELN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start CLEAN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found CLEAN?
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 9 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER