The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
STRAINS
Definition of STRAINS
noun
plural of strain
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
STRAINS inherits its ancestry from its root, STRAIN.
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
33%
of traced words share this origin (9,457)
branch · 33% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, STRAIN · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
STRAINS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 140, 7 October 2026.
Built from these letters
STRAINS starts with S and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AINRSST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once.
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 STRAIN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found STRAINS?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER