The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHOULDER
Definition of SHOULDER
noun
The part of an animal's body between the base of the neck and arm socket. The part of the human torso forming a relatively horizontal surface running away from the neck.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sċuldra, sċuldor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller, Schulder (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (980)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SHOULD · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Middle Low German.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SHOULDER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 80 boards so far. 201 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 6, 27 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 6, 27 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SHOULDER starts with S and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read DEHLORSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start SHOULD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 6
Could you have found SHOULDER?
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