The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HOMELY
Definition of HOMELY
adjective
Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (2,720)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HOMELY · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Scots, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HOMELY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 49 boards so far. 114 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 165, 1 November 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 19, 8 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HOMELY starts with H and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read EHLMOY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found HOMELY?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER