The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FLICKER
Definition of FLICKER
noun
An unsteady flash of light.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English flikeren (“to flutter”), from Old English flicerian, flicorian (“to flutter”), from Proto-West Germanic *flikurōn. Akin to Saterland Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”), West Frisian flikkerje (“to flicker”), Dutch flikkeren (“to flicker, flutter”), German Low German flickern (“to light up, flash, flicker”). Compare Old English flacor (“flickering, fluttering”), German flackern (“to flicker, flutter”), Old English flēogan (“to fly”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (2,743)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, FLICK · 13 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.
FLICKER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 26 boards so far. 68 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 19, 8 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
FLICKER starts with F and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read CEFIKLR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start FLICKE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found FLICKER?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER