The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FLUE
Definition of FLUE
noun
A pipe or duct that carries gaseous combustion products away from the point of combustion (such as a furnace).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English flue, flewe (“mouthpiece of a hunting horn”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a back-formation from Middle English *flews (mistaken as a plural), from Old English flēwsa (“a flow, flowing, flux”). Alternatively, perhaps an alteration of Middle English floute, fleute, flote (“a pipe”), see English flute. Compare also Middle Dutch vloegh (“groove, channel, flute of a fluted column”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (2,971)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, FLUE · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Middle 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.
FLUE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 69 boards so far. 248 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 161, 28 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 19, 8 June 2026.
Built from these letters
FLUE starts with F and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EFLU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start FLUE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found FLUE?
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