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GANDER
Definition of GANDER
noun
A male goose.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English gandre, from Old English gandra, ganra (“gander”), from Proto-West Germanic *ganʀō, from Proto-Germanic *ganzô (“gander”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns (“goose”). The meaning "a look" is derived from the image of craning one's neck like a goose. The meaning 'a man apart from his wife' is derived from a concept of a grass widower, and of calling a husband a goose. Cognate with Dutch gander (“gander”), Low German Gander, Ganner (“gander”), dialectal German Gandert (“gander”), German Ganter (“gander”), Norwegian gasse (“gander”), Icelandic gassi (“gander”). Compare also Lithuanian gañdras (“stork”). Related to goose, gannet.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,585)
How it is built
Same root, GAND · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian.
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.
GANDER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 50 boards so far. 103 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 142, 9 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 7, 28 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
GANDER starts with G and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read ADEGNR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
4 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start GANDER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found GANDER?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER