The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
GALLOWS
Definition of GALLOWS
noun
A wooden framework on which persons are executed by hanging.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English galwes, galewes, plural of galwe, galowe, from Old English galga, gealga, from Proto-West Germanic *galgō, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“long switch, rod, shaft, pole, perch”). The plural construction probably refers to the vertical and horizontal beams. Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi. For the pronunciation /ˈɡæləs/, compare bellows, bodice.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
9.1%
of traced words share this origin (2,383)
How it is built
Same root, GALLOW · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic.
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.
GALLOWS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 131, 28 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 131, 28 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
GALLOWS starts with G and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AGLLOSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. L appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start GALLOW
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found GALLOWS?
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 131 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER