The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHOE
Definition of SHOE
noun
A protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of leather or synthetic material. Shoes generally do not extend above the ankle, as opposed to boots, which do.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English scho, sho, from Old English sċōh (“shoe”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōh, from Proto-Germanic *skōhaz (“shoe”), of unclear etymology; possibly a derivation from *skehaną (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Indo-European *skek- (“to move quickly, jump”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English sabatine, sabatoun (“shoe”) from Medieval Latin sabatēnum, sabatum (“shoe, slipper”) (compare Old Occitan sabatō, Spanish zapato (“shoe”), French sabot (“wooden shoe, clog”), Italian ciabatta). The archaic plural shoon is from Middle English shon, from Old English scōn, scōum (“shoes”, dative plural) and scōna (“shoes'”, genitive plural); it is cognate with Scots shuin (“shoes”). See also Scots shae, West Frisian skoech, Low German Schoh, Dutch schoen, German Schuh, Bavarian Schuach, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sko, Tocharian B skāk (“balcony”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SHOE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 16 boards so far. 14 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 6, 27 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 114, 11 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.
First found by a player on Day 18, 7 June 2026.
Built from these letters
SHOE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHOS - 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 SHOE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 6
Could you have found SHOE?
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 6 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER