The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HEARTACHE
Definition of HEARTACHE
noun
Emotional distress or pain, often caused by a loved one or their absence.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English heorteece, heorte-ece, from Old English heorteċe, equivalent to heart + ache. Blends both literal and figurative aspects, as emotional distress sometimes includes a physical element of chest discomfort. Compare heartbreak § Etymology, where the literal aspect is lesser, though it still can be said to have a physiological basis.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,130)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HEARTACHE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 137, 4 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 35 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
HEARTACHE starts with H and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AACEEHHRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. H, E and A appear more than once.
Words that start HEARTA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HEARTACHE?
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