The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SWADDLE
Definition of SWADDLE
verb
To bind (a baby) with long narrow strips of cloth.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English swathlen (“to bind; swaddle”), from Middle English swathel, swethel, from Old English swaþul, swæþel, sweþel, sweoþol (“swaddling cloth”), equivalent to swathe (“to wrap with fabric”) + -le (agent/instrumental suffix), the word then underwent th-stopping (its voiced th became a d). Cognate with Middle Dutch swadel (“swaddling; bandage”), Old High German swedili (“poultice”), Old English sweþian, besweþian (“to wrap; swaddle”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.2%
of traced words share this origin (1,106)
branch · 22.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SWADDLE · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names German, Middle 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.
SWADDLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 131, 28 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 131, 28 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SWADDLE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ADDELSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. D appears more than once, including a double letter.
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 SWADDL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SWADDLE?
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 131 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER