The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SPELK
Definition of SPELK
noun
A splinter, usually of wood.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English spelke, from Old English spilc, spelc (“a splint”), from Proto-West Germanic *spelku, from Proto-Germanic *spelkō, *spalkō, *spalkuz (“bast, splint”). Cognate with Old Norse spjalkir (“bars, rails”, plural).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (981)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Old Norse.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SPELK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 7 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 37, 26 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 136, 3 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 37, 26 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
SPELK starts with S and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read EKLPS - 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 SPELK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 37
Could you have found SPELK?
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 37 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER