The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
GURU
Definition of GURU
noun
In Indian traditions: a spiritual teacher who transmits knowledge to a shishya.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Hindi गुरु (guru) / Punjabi ਗੁਰੂ (gurū), from Sanskrit गुरु (guru, “venerable, respectable”), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve and, more distantly, brute. Doublet of grave. A traditional, though flawed etymology based on the Advayataraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as “darkness” and ru as “destroyer”, thus ascribing the meaning of “one who destroys/dispels darkness” to the word.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
15th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1%
of traced words share this origin (773)
branch · 1.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, GURU · 4 relatives 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.
GURU in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 19 boards so far. 22 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 10, 30 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 153, 20 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 11 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 10, 30 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
GURU starts with G and ends with U. Sorted, its letters read GRUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. U appears more than once.
Words that start GURU
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 10
Could you have found GURU?
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 10 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER