The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DOWEL
Definition of DOWEL
noun
A pin, or block, of wood or metal, fitting into holes in the abutting portions of two pieces, and being partly in one piece and partly in the other, to keep them in their proper relative position.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English dowle, dule, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French doelle (“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”), from Frankish *duli (“hollow tube, pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *dulją (“pipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“curvature, hollow”). If so, then cognate with French douelle, douille. Alternatively from Middle Low German dövel (“peg, plug”), from Old Saxon *dubil, from Proto-Germanic *dubilaz. If so, then cognate with Dutch deuvel (“wooden peg”), German Dübel (“dowel”).
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.
DOWEL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 23 boards so far. 73 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 101, 29 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 24, 13 June 2026.
Built from these letters
DOWEL starts with D and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read DELOW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start DOWEL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 24
Could you have found DOWEL?
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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER