The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
POTHOLE
Definition of POTHOLE
noun
A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion, weather or traffic.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From dialectal pot (“pit, hollow, cavity”) + hole. The "cave" senses, attested since at least 1809 (as pot-hole), may be from Middle English pot, potte (“a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging”), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to English pit, pote, or pot. Compare Scots pott, patt (“a pit dug in the ground; coalpit”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,231)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, POTHOLE · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Scots.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
POTHOLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 4 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 112, 9 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 35 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 27, 16 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
POTHOLE starts with P and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHLOOPT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O appears more than once.
Words that start POTHOL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found POTHOLE?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER