The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
UNCLE
Definition of UNCLE
noun
The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced native Middle English em (“uncle”) from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera (“paternal uncle”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,843)
How it is built
Same root, UNCLE · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, German, Old English.
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.
UNCLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 23 boards so far. 26 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 168, 4 November 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 19, 8 June 2026.
Built from these letters
UNCLE starts with U and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read CELNU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start UNCLE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found UNCLE?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER