The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHOON
Definition of SHOON
noun
plural 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 schon, shon, shone, schone, shoon, schoon, schoone, from Old English sċōn (“shoes”, dative plural) and Old English sċōna (“shoes'”, genitive plural), equivalent to shoe + -en.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (2,881)
branch · 22.6% 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.
SHOON in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 28 boards so far. 28 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 36, 25 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 36, 25 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SHOON starts with S and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read HNOOS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O appears more than once, including a double letter.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 36
Could you have found SHOON?
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 36 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER