The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MAWK
Definition of MAWK
noun
A maggot.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
MAWK carries 3 further meanings.
noun
A slattern.
noun
A slattern; a mawks.
noun
a slattern
Where it comes from
From Middle English mawke, moke, a contraction of mathek, maddok, from Old Norse maðkr (“maggot”), a diminutive of a base from Proto-Germanic *maþô (“worm”) (compare Old English maþa), from Proto-Indo-European *mat-, *mot- used in reference to insects and vermin. Cognate with Danish maddike, Swedish mask, archaic English maddock (modern maggot).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.4%
of traced words share this origin (11,223)
How it is built
Same root, MAWK · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Old English, Swedish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
MAWK in a sentence
“The notes are articulate, the personal knowledge impressive: there is no generic "we never knew you but the angels will …" kind of mawk, just genuine tributes from the girls in the bookies, the twins in the dance class, who had come to know and appreciate the different lives of all these different people.”
Derrick Bird: dangerous thoughts about the trigger inside that will forever haunt Cumbria, 2010
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MAWK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 32 boards so far. 74 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 51, 10 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 9 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 51, 10 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MAWK starts with M and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read AKMW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of MAWK. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Words that start MAWK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 51
Could you have found MAWK?
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 51 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER