The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
RUDDER
Definition of RUDDER
noun
An underwater vane used to steer a vessel. The rudder is controlled by means of a wheel, tiller or other apparatus (modern vessels can be controlled even with a joystick or an autopilot).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English rodder, rother, ruder, from Old English rōþor (“oar, rudder”), from Proto-West Germanic *rōþr, from Proto-Germanic *rōþrą (“oar, rudder”). See also Dutch and West Frisian roer, German Ruder; also akin to Old English rōwan (“to row”). More at rōwan, -þor.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (4,052)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, RUDDER · 2 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.
RUDDER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 141, 8 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 20 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 141, 8 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
RUDDER starts with R and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read DDERRU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. R and D appear more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start RUDDER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found RUDDER?
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 141 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER