The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SPEAR
Definition of SPEAR
noun
A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English spere, sperre, spear, from Old English spere, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-. See also West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre (“rafter”), Old Norse sparri (“spar, rafter”), sperra (“rafter, beam”); also Latin sparus (“short spear”), Albanian ferrë (“thorn, thornbush”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,623)
How it is built
Same root, SPEAR · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Latin, Middle Dutch, Old Norse.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SPEAR in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 21 boards so far. 23 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 136, 3 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 12 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SPEAR starts with S and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AEPRS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
12 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SPEAR
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found SPEAR?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER