The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
KNUCKLE
Definition of KNUCKLE
noun
Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill. More at knock.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,718)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, KNUCKLE · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Old Norse.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
KNUCKLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 19 days.
First found by a player on Day 139, 6 October 2026.
Built from these letters
KNUCKLE starts with K and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read CEKKLNU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. K appears more than once.
Words that start KNUCKL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found KNUCKLE?
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 139 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER