The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DIRK
Definition of DIRK
noun
A long Scottish dagger with a straight blade.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Etymology unknown, apparently from Scots dirk. First attested in 1602 as dork, in the later 17th century as durk. The spelling dirk is due to Johnson's Dictionary of 1755. Early quotations as well as Johnson 1755 suggest that the word is of Scottish Gaelic origin, but no such Gaelic word is known. The Gaelic name for the weapon is biodag. Gaelic duirc is merely an 18th-century adoption of the English word. A possible derivation is from the North Germanic/Scandinavian personal name Dirk (short for Diederik), which is used of lock-picking tools (but not of knives or daggers). Alternatively a corruption of Low German Dulk, Dolk (“dagger”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *dalk, from Proto-Germanic *dulkaz, *dalkaz (“knife, dagger”), related to Saterland Frisian Dolk (“dagger”), West Frisian dolk (“dagger”), Dutch dolk (“dagger”), German Dolch (“dagger”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,691)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, DIRK · 5 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DIRK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 44 boards so far. 147 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 155, 22 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DIRK starts with D and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read DIKR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start DIRK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found DIRK?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER