The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DONKEY
Definition of DONKEY
noun
A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The origin is uncertain. Originally a slang term from the late eighteenth century. Perhaps from Middle English *donekie (“a miniature dun horse”), a double diminutive of Middle English don, dun, dunne (a name for a dun horse), equivalent to modern English dun (“brownish grey colour”) + -ock (diminutive suffix) + -ie (diminutive suffix), or similarly formed from the given name Duncan. Compare Middle English donning (“a dun horse”), English dunnock. Became more common than the original term ass due to the latter's homophony and partial merger with arse (compare similar development between coney and rabbit).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DONKEY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 16 boards so far. 27 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 110, 7 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
DONKEY starts with D and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read DEKNOY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start DONKEY
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 26
Could you have found DONKEY?
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 26 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER