The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PLUCK
Definition of PLUCK
verb
To pull something sharply; to pull something out
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,821)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PLUCK · 5 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Latin, Norwegian, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PLUCK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 74 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 14, 3 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
PLUCK starts with P and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read CKLPU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start PLUCK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found PLUCK?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER