The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SMUGGLE
Definition of SMUGGLE
verb
To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to creep; slip through or into”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- German
- Middle Dutch
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (2,816)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SMUGGLE · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Icelandic, Old English, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SMUGGLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 153, 20 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 18 days.
First found by a player on Day 153, 20 October 2026.
Built from these letters
SMUGGLE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EGGLMSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. G 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.
Words that start SMUGGL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SMUGGLE?
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 153 - and most players walked straight past it.
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