The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LINGER
Definition of LINGER
verb
To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English lengeren, frequentative of lengen (“to stay, dwell, tarry”), from Old English lenġan (“to lengthen, delay, extend”), from Proto-West Germanic *langijan, from Proto-Germanic *langijaną (compare West Frisian lingje (“to linger”), Dutch lengen, German längen, Icelandic lengja (“to lengthen”)), related to the root of English long. Equivalent to linge or long + -er (frequentative verb suffix).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
37th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.2%
of traced words share this origin (128)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, LING · 7 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
LINGER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 28 boards so far. 41 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 11, 31 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
LINGER starts with L and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read EGILNR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 LINGER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found LINGER?
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 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER