The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FLAIL
Definition of FLAIL
noun
A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle (handstock) with a shorter stick (swipple or swingle) attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English flayle, from earlier fleil, fleyl, fleȝȝl, from Old English fligel, *flegel (“flail”), from Proto-West Germanic *flagil, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots flail (“a thresher's flail”), West Frisian fleil, flaaiel (“flail”), Dutch vlegel (“flail”), German Flegel (“flail”). Possibly a native Germanic word from Proto-Germanic *flagilaz (“whip”), from Proto-Germanic *flag-, *flah- (“to whip, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to beat, hit, strike; weep”); compare Old Norse flaga (“sudden attack, bout”), Lithuanian plàkti (“to whip, lash, flog”), Ancient Greek πληγνύναι (plēgnúnai, “strike, hit, encounter”), Latin plangō (“lament”, i.e. “beat one's breast”) + Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (instrumental suffix). If so, related also to English flag, flack, flacker. Alternatively, Proto-West Germanic *flagil may be an early borrowing of Latin flagellum (“winnowing tool, thresher”), diminutive of flagrum (“scourge, whip”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlag-, *bʰlaǵ- (“to beat”); compare Old Norse blekkja (“to beat, mistreat”). Compare also Old French flael (“flail”), Walloon flayea (“flail”) (locally pronounced "flai"), Italian flagello (“scourge, whip, plague”).
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.
FLAIL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far. 10 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 110, 7 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 117, 14 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 117, 14 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
FLAIL starts with F and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AFILL - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. L appears more than once.
Words that start FLAIL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found FLAIL?
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 110 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER