The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HAWTHORN
Definition of HAWTHORN
noun
Any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Crataegus having small, apple-like fruits and thorny branches.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hawthorn, from Old English hagaþorn, hæguþorn, from Proto-West Germanic *haguþorn; equivalent to haw (“hedge, enclosure”) + thorn.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.1%
of traced words share this origin (894)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HAWTHORN · 1 relative 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.
HAWTHORN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far. 13 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 137, 4 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 137, 4 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HAWTHORN starts with H and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AHHNORTW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. H appears more than once.
Could you have found HAWTHORN?
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 137 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER