The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
THISTLE
Definition of THISTLE
noun
Any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English thistel, from Old English þistel, from Proto-West Germanic *þistil, from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz. *þīh- from *teyg-, which is a variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to prick”); from this same Proto-Indo-European root comes English stick. Cognates include Scots thrissel, German Distel, Dutch distel, and Old Norse and Icelandic þistill.
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.
THISTLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far. 32 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 106, 3 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 106, 3 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
THISTLE starts with T and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHILSTT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. T 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 THISTL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found THISTLE?
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 106 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER