The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HAVOC
Definition of HAVOC
noun
Widespread devastation and destruction.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”), of obscure origin. Probably from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef (“hook”), from Frankish *haf, *habbjā, *happjā (“pruning-hook, scythe”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), related to Old French havee (“handful”), Old French havet (“pruning-hook”), Old High German habba, heppa (“pruning-hook, scythe”), modern German Hippe (“billhook”). If so, then also related to English heave and doublet of hatchet.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,856)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HAVOC · 5 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.
HAVOC in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 51 boards so far. 310 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 21, 10 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 21, 10 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HAVOC starts with H and ends with C. Sorted, its letters read ACHOV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start HAVOC
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 21
Could you have found HAVOC?
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 21 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER