The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
GROVEL
Definition of GROVEL
verb
To be prone on the ground.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English *grovelen, from Old Norse grufla, grœfla (“to grovel”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, delve into”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ‑ (“to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch”); akin to Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) (> Old Norse grúfa (“to lie face down, grovel”)). Cognate with Scots grovel, gruvil (“to grovel”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”), Norwegian Nynorsk gruvla (“to grovel”). Compare also West Frisian groebeltsje (“to make a mess, skip school, skive”), Dutch grobbelen (“to grope, root, grub”).
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
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,622)
How it is built
Same root, GROVEL · 5 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Norwegian, Scots.
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.
GROVEL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 55 boards so far. 177 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 142, 9 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
GROVEL starts with G and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read EGLORV - 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 GROVEL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found GROVEL?
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