The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SANDERLING
Definition of SANDERLING
noun
A small wading bird, of species Calidris alba, that breeds in the Arctic and winters on sandy shores and estuaries around the world.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
First use appears c. 1602. Possibly a descendant from Old English *sandyrðling, from sand (“sand”) + yrðling (“plowman”), though not attested in Old or Middle English. (Can this etymology be sourced?)
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- Old English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,217)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SANDERLING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 132, 29 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 132, 29 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SANDERLING starts with S and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read ADEGILNNRS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. N appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SANDER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SANDERLING?
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 132 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER