The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
STALE
Definition of STALE
adjective
No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
STALE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 21 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 17, 6 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 97, 25 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 17, 6 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
STALE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AELST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
11 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start STALE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 17
Could you have found STALE?
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 17 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER