The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WATERFOWL
Definition of WATERFOWL
noun
Any of the birds, such as ducks, geese and swans, that spend most of their non-flying time on water; especially those of the family Anatidae.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English waterfoul, water-foul, equivalent to water + fowl. Compare Old English dopfugel (“waterfowl, moorhen”, literally “dipping-fowl”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,287)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, WATERFOWL · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
WATERFOWL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 13 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 139, 6 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WATERFOWL starts with W and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AEFLORTWW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. W appears more than once.
Words that start WATERF
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found WATERFOWL?
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 139 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER