The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MERLE
Definition of MERLE
noun
A Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- (“black, blackbird”). Compare Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MERLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 13 boards so far. 14 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 39, 28 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 120, 17 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 39, 28 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MERLE starts with M and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EELMR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 39
Could you have found MERLE?
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 39 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER