The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HANKER
Definition of HANKER
verb
To crave, want or desire.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
With a secondary frequentative suffix -er, ultimately pointing to Proto-Germanic *hankōną, an iterative to *hanhaną (“to hang”). Related to Dutch hunkeren (“to crave”), which continues the zero-grade iterative.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Proto-Germanic
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,691)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HANK · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HANKER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 37 boards so far. 110 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 22, 11 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 155, 22 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 22, 11 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HANKER starts with H and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AEHKNR - 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 HANKER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 22
Could you have found HANKER?
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 22 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER