The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
KESTREL
Definition of KESTREL
noun
Any of various small falcons of the genus Falco that hover while hunting.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English castrel (“staniel, bird of prey”), from Middle French cresserelle, crecerelle (“bird of prey”), usually assumed to be from crecelle (“rattle, wooden reel”) (modern crécelle), of obscure origin. Cognates possibly include: Medieval Latin clisterella f, French crécerelle f and cristel m, Neapolitan castariello m and crestariello m, all sharing the same meaning. Derivation from the assumed Vulgar Latin *crepicella, *crepitacillum, a diminutive of crepitāculum, from crepitāre (“to crackle”) is difficult to explain from a morphological point of view. Instead, possibly from a root *krek-, *krak- (“to crack, rattle, creak, emit a bird cry”), from Middle Dutch crāken (“to creak, crack”), from Old Dutch *krakōn (“to crack, creak, emit a cry”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to emit a cry, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“to shout”). Cognate with Old High German krahhōn (“to make a sound, crash”), Old English cracian (“to resound”), French craquer (“to emit a repeated cry, used of birds”). More at creak, crack.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
KESTREL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 77 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 46, 5 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 109, 6 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 46, 5 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
KESTREL starts with K and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read EEKLRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start KESTRE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 46
Could you have found KESTREL?
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 46 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER