The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
THREAD
Definition of THREAD
noun
A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European *treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”). Cognate with Yola dreade (“thread”), Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), Cimbrian draat (“string, thread”), Dutch draad (“thread, wire”), German Draht (“thread, wire”), Luxembourgish Drot (“wire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish tråd (“thread, wire”), Faroese tráður (“thread”), Icelandic þráður (“thread”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,608)
How it is built
Same root, THREAD · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, 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.
THREAD in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 20 boards so far. 20 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 10, 30 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 143, 10 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 10, 30 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
THREAD starts with T and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read ADEHRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 THREAD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 10
Could you have found THREAD?
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 10 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER