The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
COWL
Definition of COWL
noun
A monk's hood that can be pulled forward to cover the face; a robe with such a hood attached to it.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English coule, from Old English cūle, from earlier cugele (“hood, cowl”), from Ecclesiastical Latin cuculla (“monk's cowl”), from Latin cucullus (“hood”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of cagoule.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.7%
of traced words share this origin (24,176)
branch · 30.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, COWL · 3 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
COWL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 57 boards so far. 151 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 21, 10 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 21, 10 June 2026.
Built from these letters
COWL starts with C and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read CLOW - 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 COWL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 21
Could you have found COWL?
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 21 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER