The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

SHONE

/ʃɒn/5 letters

Definition of SHONE

verb

simple past and past participle of shine

SHINE

verb

To emit or reflect light so as to glow.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Word DNA

SHONE inherits its ancestry from its root, SHINE.

Line of descent

  1. Proto-Germanic
  2. Old English
  3. Middle English
  4. English

3 recorded generations before English.

Proto-Germanic

Deepest traced root

6th

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

4.7%

of traced words share this origin (3,750)

Germanic

branch · 22.6% of traced words

How it is built

verb1 syllable

Same root, SHINE · 6 relatives in the game

Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish.

Every Proto-Germanic word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

SHONE in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 30 boards so far. 51 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 160
Its 30 boards, across 160 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
30
Boards found on
26
First board
145
Latest board
14
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 15 days.

First ever to find it

janeranie

on Day 26, 15 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

SHONE
5
Letters
2
Vowels
3
Consonants
5
Different letters
2
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

SHONE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHNOS - 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 SHONE

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

SHONEENSHONEENS

Could you have found SHONE?

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 26 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER