The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FLANK
Definition of FLANK
verb
To attack the flank(s) of.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Late Middle English flanc, from Late Old English flanc (“flank”), from Old French flanc, of Germanic origin, probably Frankish *hlanca, from Proto-West Germanic *hlanku (“bend, curve, hip, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“flexible, sleek, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend”). Akin to Old High German hlanca (“loin”), Middle Low German lanke (“hip joint”) (German lenken (“to bend, turn, lead”)), Old English hlanc (“loose, slender, flaccid, lank”). More at lank.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
6 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.3%
of traced words share this origin (11,259)
How it is built
Same root, FLANK · 5 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Middle Low German.
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.
FLANK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 33 boards so far. 61 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 9, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 156, 23 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 9, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
FLANK starts with F and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read AFKLN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start FLANK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 9
Could you have found FLANK?
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 9 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER