The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HONE
Definition of HONE
noun
A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hon (“whetstone”), from Old English hān, from Proto-Germanic *hainō (compare Dutch heen, Norwegian hein), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃i- (“to sharpen”) (compare Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”), Persian سان (sân, “whetstone”)).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
6 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
18th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.6%
of traced words share this origin (471)
branch · 0.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HONE · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Norwegian.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HONE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 40 boards so far. 68 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
HONE starts with H and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHNO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start HONE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found HONE?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER