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GROAN
Definition of GROAN
noun
A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English gronen, granen, from Old English grānian (“to groan; lament; murmur”), from Proto-West Germanic *grainōn, from Proto-Germanic *grainōną (“to howl; weep”), from Proto-Germanic *grīnaną (“to whine; howl; whimper”). Cognate with Scots grain (“to cry, scream”), Dutch grijnen, grienen (“to cry; sob; blubber”), German Low German grienen (“to whimper; mewl”), German greinen (“to whine; whimper”), Swedish grina (“to howl; weep; laugh”). The noun is from Middle English gron, grone, from the verb.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (994)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, GROAN · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Scots, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
GROAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 18 boards so far. 22 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 132, 29 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 20 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
GROAN starts with G and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AGNOR - 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 GROAN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found GROAN?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER