The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LIEFS
Definition of LIEFS
Wiktionary has no entry for LIEFS itself. This is its base word, LIEF.
adjective
Beloved, dear, agreeable.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The origin recorded for LIEF.
From Middle English lef, leve, leef, from Old English lēof, from Proto-West Germanic *leub, from Proto-Germanic *leubaz. Cognate with Saterland Frisian ljo, ljoo, ljoof, West Frisian leaf, Dutch lief, German Low German leev, German lieb, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk ljuv, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs), Russian любо́вь (ljubóvʹ), Polish luby. For the adverb, compare German lieber, Dutch liever (“preferably, rather”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (993)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, LIEF · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
LIEFS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 16 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 45, 4 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 151, 18 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 45, 4 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
LIEFS starts with L and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EFILS - 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.
Also seen on Day 45
Could you have found LIEFS?
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 45 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER