The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SCRATCHING
Definition of SCRATCHING
verb
present participle and gerund of scratch
verb
To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
SCRATCHING inherits its ancestry from its root, SCRATCH.
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,182)
branch · 22.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SCRATCH · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names German, Old English, Old Norse.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SCRATCHING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 131, 28 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 12 days.
First found by a player on Day 131, 28 September 2026.
Built from these letters
SCRATCHING starts with S and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read ACCGHINRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. C appears more than once.
Words that start SCRATC
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SCRATCHING?
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 131 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER