The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
GRISTLE
Definition of GRISTLE
noun
Cartilage; now especially: cartilage present, as a tough substance, in meat.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English gristel, grystyl, from Old English gristel (“gristle, cartilage”), Proto-West Germanic *gristl, of obscure origin; possibly from a pre-Germanic substrate language. Seemingly equivalent to a diminutive of Old English grist (“a grinding”), equivalent to modern English grist + -le; possibly related to Proto-Germanic *gredaną (“to crunch”). (Can this etymology be sourced?) Cognate with Old Frisian gristel, gerstel (“gristle, cartilage”), Middle Low German gristel (“gristle”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
29th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.3%
of traced words share this origin (79)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, GRISTLE · 1 relative in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
GRISTLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 81 boards so far. 312 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 11, 31 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
GRISTLE starts with G and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EGILRST - 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 GRISTL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found GRISTLE?
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 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER