The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LEAD
Definition of LEAD
noun
A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,585)
How it is built
Same root, LEAD · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish, Latin, Scots, Swedish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
LEAD in OUTLIER
It has fitted 3 boards so far. 23 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 78, 6 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 34, 23 June 2026.
Built from these letters
LEAD starts with L and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read ADEL - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start LEAD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found LEAD?
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 78 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER