The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
UNGAINLY
Definition of UNGAINLY
adjective
Clumsy; lacking grace.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From un- (“not”) + gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”), from Old Norse gegn (“fit, serviceable; direct, straight; honest; kindly”) + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Compare dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk ugjegnleg (“stubborn; troublesome”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old Norse
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
16th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.7%
of traced words share this origin (199)
branch · 22.8% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Norwegian.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
UNGAINLY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 132, 29 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 132, 29 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
UNGAINLY starts with U and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read AGILNNUY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. N appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start UNGAIN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found UNGAINLY?
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 132 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER