The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HERRING
Definition of HERRING
noun
A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hering, from Old English hǣring, from Proto-West Germanic *hāring (“herring”), further etymology unknown. Possibly derived from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”) + -ing, due to the similarity of their fine bones to hair. Cognate with Scots hering, haring (“herring”), Saterland Frisian Hiering, Häiring (“herring”), West Frisian hjerring (“herring”), Dutch haring (“herring”), German Low German Hereng, Hering (“herring”), German Hering (“herring”), Bavarian Haring (“herring”). Late Latin haringus (whence French hareng, etc.) is borrowed from Germanic.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,919)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HER · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, French, Latin, Scots.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HERRING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 154, 21 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HERRING starts with H and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read EGHINRR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. R appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start HERRIN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HERRING?
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 154 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER