The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WANT
Definition of WANT
verb
To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English wanten (“to lack, to need”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,470)
How it is built
Same root, WANT · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Latin, Middle Dutch, 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.
WANT in OUTLIER
It has fitted 51 boards so far. 24 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 48, 7 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 138, 5 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WANT starts with W and ends with T. Sorted, its letters read ANTW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start WANT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 48
Could you have found WANT?
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 48 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER