The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ISSUE
Definition of ISSUE
noun
The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow, particularly: A movement of soldiers towards an enemy, a sortie. The outflow of a bodily fluid, particularly in abnormal amounts.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”). The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the end or result of pleadings in a suit (by presenting the point to be determined by trial)," leading to the sense of "the controversy over facts in a trial" (early 14th century, Anglo-French). This later extended to mean "a point of contention between two parties" (early 15th century) and more generally, "an important point to be decided" (1836). Consequently, the verbal phrase take issue with emerged in 1797 (preceded by join issue in the 1690s), meaning "to adopt an affirmative or negative stance in a dispute with another." The expression to have issues, meaning "to have unresolved conflicts," dates to 1990.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
33%
of traced words share this origin (9,457)
branch · 33% 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.
ISSUE in OUTLIER
It has fitted 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 76, 4 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
Built from these letters
ISSUE starts with I and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EISSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start ISSUE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found ISSUE?
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