The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
QUISLING
Definition of QUISLING
noun
A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Named after Norwegian military officer Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), who ruled the Nazi collaborationist government of Norway during World War Two. From Quislinus, Latinization of Quislin, based on the Danish place name Kvislemark. This term first appeared in 1940. The surname is seemingly supposed to mean "one who is from Kvislemark", and is equivalent to Kvisle(mark) + -ing (suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities). However, the earlier form of the name, Quislinus/Quislin, appears to have been a fanciful coinage based upon Kvisle(mark) + Latin -inus (“suffix indicating a relationship of position, possession, or origin”), and only later on came to be reinterpreted as containing Norwegian -ing (“suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities”). Kvislemark is composed of Danish kvissel (“cleft branch”) + mark (compare Danmark). kvissel itself is a derivative of Old Norse kvísl (“fork [as in a 'fork in the road']”), which ultimately comes (by dissimilation) from Proto-Germanic *twīsilō. Cognates include Old English twisla (“confluence, junction, fork of a river or road”) and Old High German zwisila (“forked implement, twig, branch”). Ultimately related to English twistle, twissel, and twizzle. By surface analysis, quisle + -ing.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.4%
of traced words share this origin (975)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
QUISLING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 765 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 126, 23 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 19 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
QUISLING starts with Q and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read GIILNQSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I appears more than once. It uses Q - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start QUISLI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found QUISLING?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER