The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SMIRCH
Definition of SMIRCH
noun
Dirt, or a stain.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English *smorchen ("to spatter, soil"; attested in besmorchid (“bespattered, soiled all over”)), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of Middle English smeoren, smuren, smeren (“to smear”) or related to Middle English smotry (“sooty, grimy”). Compare also Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”), Old French esmorcher (“to torture”), Middle English smoterly, smoterlich (“besmirched”), modern English smut.
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
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,235)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SMIRCH · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old French.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SMIRCH in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 43 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 35, 24 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 35, 24 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SMIRCH starts with S and ends with H. Sorted, its letters read CHIMRS - 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 SMIRCH
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 35
Could you have found SMIRCH?
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 35 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER