The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PURL
Definition of PURL
noun
A particular stitch in knitting in which the working yarn is pulled through an existing stitch from front to back.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Unknown; apparently related to Scots and dialect pirl (“twist, ripple, whirl, spin”), and possibly to Older Scots pyrl ("thrust or poke at"). Compare Venetan pirlo, an embellishment where the woven threads are twisted together. May be unrelated to purfle, though the meanings are similar.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Scots
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
24th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.4%
of traced words share this origin (340)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PURL · 4 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PURL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 47 boards so far. 121 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 35, 24 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 162, 29 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 35, 24 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
PURL starts with P and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read LPRU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start PURL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 35
Could you have found PURL?
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 35 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER