The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SWEAR
Definition of SWEAR
verb
To take an oath, to promise intensely, solemnly, and/or with legally binding effect.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”). Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”), Russian свара (svara, “quarrel”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European. The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,769)
How it is built
Same root, SWEAR · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Russian, Swedish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SWEAR in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 18, 7 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 159, 26 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.
First found by a player on Day 18, 7 June 2026.
Built from these letters
SWEAR starts with S and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AERSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
6 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SWEAR
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 18
Could you have found SWEAR?
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 18 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER