The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MOUND
Definition of MOUND
noun
An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundu, from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”). Cognate with Old Frisian mund (“guardianship”), Middle Dutch mond (“protection”), Old High German munt (“hand, protection”) German Mündel (“ward”), Vormund (“guardian”)), Icelandic and Old Norse mund (“hand”), and possibly Latin manus (“hand”), Ancient Greek μάρη (márē, “hand”). Not related to mount.
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
14.3%
of traced words share this origin (11,293)
How it is built
Same root, MOUND · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Icelandic, Latin, Middle Dutch, Old Norse.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MOUND in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 38 boards so far. 72 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 2, 23 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 2, 23 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MOUND starts with M and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read DMNOU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start MOUND
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 2
Could you have found MOUND?
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 2 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER