The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
STERLING
Definition of STERLING
noun
An English silver penny first introduced by the Normans.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English sterling, possibly from Old English *steorling, from steorra (“star”) and -ling, in reference to the stars that appeared on certain English pennies. Alternatively, the first element may be *stēre, meaning “strong” or “stout” (compare the etymology of solidus).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (2,853)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
STERLING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 27 boards so far. 33 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 28, 17 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First found by a player on Day 28, 17 June 2026.
Built from these letters
STERLING starts with S and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read EGILNRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
4 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start STERLI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 28
Could you have found STERLING?
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 28 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER