The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HARD
Definition of HARD
adjective
Solid and firm. Resistant to pressure; difficult to break, cut, or penetrate.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognate with Yola hard (“hard”), West Frisian hurd (“hard”), Alemannic German hert (“hard”), Bavarian hoat (“hard”), Central Franconian haat (“hard”), Dutch hard (“hard”), German hart (“hard”), Luxembourgish haart (“hard”), Danish and Swedish hård (“hard”), Faroese and Icelandic harður (“hard”), Norwegian Bokmål hard (“hard”), Norwegian Nynorsk hard, hard’u (“hard”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 (hardus, “hard”), Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús, “strong, mighty”), Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu, “power, might, ability”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎 (xratu).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.8%
of traced words share this origin (2,661)
How it is built
Same root, HARD · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sanskrit, Swedish.
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.
HARD in OUTLIER
It has fitted 19 boards so far. 22 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 2, 23 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 15, 4 June 2026.
Built from these letters
HARD starts with H and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read ADHR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start HARD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 2
Could you have found HARD?
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 2 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER