The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ROUSE
Definition of ROUSE
verb
To cause (something) to be (more) active or to move; to agitate, to stir up. To stir (a liquid, especially beer in the brewing process). To provoke (someone) to react (for example, in anger or annoyance); to spur; also, to annoy, to tease.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The verb is derived from Late Middle English rousen (“of a hawk: to shake its feathers”); further etymology unknown. Because many terms of French origin are used in falconry, it has been assumed that the Middle English word is derived from Anglo-Norman or French; however, no satisfactory etymon has been found. The following words have been suggested, but are thought by the Oxford English Dictionary to be unlikely due to the differences in meaning: Compare row (“quarrel”), possibly related to or derived from this word. The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
26th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.3%
of traced words share this origin (270)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ROUSE · 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.
ROUSE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 50 boards so far. 86 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 30, 19 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 30, 19 June 2026.
Built from these letters
ROUSE starts with R and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EORSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start ROUSE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 30
Could you have found ROUSE?
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 30 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER