LUNCH

Where it comes from

Recorded since 1580 in the sense “piece, hunk”. The word luncheon with the same meaning is presumably an extension on the pattern of puncheon (“cask”) and truncheon (“cudgel”). But earliest found forms of luncheon include lunshin and lunching, which are equivalent to lunch + -ing, with the suffix -ing possibly later modified to imitate a French origin. In contrast, the more common sense “light meal” is first attested for luncheon in 1652 and for lunch in 1829, so in this sense the latter is probably a shortening of the former. Lunch is possibly a derivative of lump (as hunch is from hump. See hunch for more), or represents an alteration of nuncheon, from Middle English nonechenche (“light midday meal”) (see nuncheon) and altered by northern English dialect lunch (“hunk of bread or cheese”) (1590), which perhaps is from lump or from Spanish lonja (“a slice”, literally “loin”).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

LUNCH in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 13 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.

It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 106, 3 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 17 days.

First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.

Built from these letters

LUNCH starts with L and ends with H. Sorted, its letters read CHLNU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.

Words that start LUNCH

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Also seen on Day 8