The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHEARING
Definition of SHEARING
adjective
Tending to cut or tear.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English scherynge; equivalent to shear + -ing.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
6.2%
of traced words share this origin (5,116)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SHEAR · 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.
SHEARING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 38 boards so far. 56 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 161, 28 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.
First found by a player on Day 23, 12 June 2026.
Built from these letters
SHEARING starts with S and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read AEGHINRS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SHEARI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found SHEARING?
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