The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
VENTAIL
Definition of VENTAIL
noun
Synonym of aventail (“mail curtain or flap, on a helmet or a mail coif, that protects the lower face and neck”).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English ventaile (“mail over lower face and neck; lower front piece of helmet; air hole in helmet”), from Old French ventaille (“lower opening in helmet for air”). Related to aventail.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old French
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
9th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
2.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,351)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, VENTAIL · 5 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
VENTAIL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 9 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 33, 22 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 137, 4 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 25 days.
First found by a player on Day 86, 14 August 2026.
Built from these letters
VENTAIL starts with V and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AEILNTV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start VENTAI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 33
Could you have found VENTAIL?
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 33 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER