The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DARK
Definition of DARK
adjective
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc, from Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“dull, dirty”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.8%
of traced words share this origin (2,661)
How it is built
Same root, DARK · 4 relatives in the game
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.
DARK in OUTLIER
It has fitted 53 boards so far. 32 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 2, 23 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 151, 18 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
DARK starts with D and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read ADKR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start DARK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 2
Could you have found DARK?
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 2 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER