The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
QUEAN
Definition of QUEAN
noun
A woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English quene (“young, robust woman”), from Old English cwene (“woman, female serf”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwenā, from Proto-Germanic *kwenǭ (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”). Doublet of gyne and queen. Cognate with Dutch kween (“a barren woman, a barren cow”), Low German quene (“barren cow, heifer”), German Kone (“wife”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Icelandic kona (“woman”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌽𐍉 (qinō, “woman”), 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,616)
How it is built
Same root, QUEAN · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish.
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.
QUEAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 57 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 38, 27 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 126, 23 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 21 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 38, 27 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
QUEAN starts with Q and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AENQU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses Q - among the least common letters in written English.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 38
Could you have found QUEAN?
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 38 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER