The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HOLD
Definition of HOLD
verb
To grasp or grip.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Derived from Middle English holden, derived from Old English healdan, derived from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, derived from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe derived from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Doublet of halt. Compare Latin celer (“quick”), Tocharian B käl- (“to goad, drive”), Ancient Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive”), Sanskrit कलयति (kalayati, “to impel”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,585)
How it is built
Same root, HOLD · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit.
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.
HOLD in OUTLIER
It has fitted 1 board so far. 15 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 76, 4 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 66 days.
First found by a player on Day 6, 27 May 2026.
Built from these letters
HOLD starts with H and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read DHLO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start HOLD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HOLD?
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 76 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER