The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PRICKLE
Definition of PRICKLE
noun
A sharp and often small point, especially that of a plant; a thorn. A sharp, hard extension of the cortex and epidermis of some plants (such as roses), as distinguished from a thorn.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English prykkyl, prykyl, from Old English pricel, pricels, pricle (“a prickle, sharp point, bit”), from a conflation of Proto-West Germanic *prikislī and *prikil (“prickle”). By surface analysis, prick + -le. Cognate with West Frisian prikel (“goad, prickle”), Dutch prikkel (“sting, prickle, stimulus”), German Low German Prekel (“wooden stick, poker”), Saterland Frisian prikkelje (“to propel, spur on, goad”). First attested in the Old English period.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (2,708)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PRICKLE · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PRICKLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 35 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 40, 29 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 40, 29 June 2026.
Built from these letters
PRICKLE starts with P and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read CEIKLPR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start PRICKL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 40
Could you have found PRICKLE?
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 40 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER