The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WELKES
Definition of WELKES
Wiktionary has no entry for WELKES itself. This is its base word, WELK.
verb
Of a plant: to wither, wilt, decay.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The origin recorded for WELK.
From Middle English welken, probably from a continental Germanic language; compare Middle Dutch welken (Dutch welken) and Middle Low German welken. Cognate with German welken. Ultimately, from Proto-West Germanic *wilkijan (“to become soft”), from Proto-Germanic *welkaz (“soft, withered”), according to Kluge, related to *wulkną (“cloud”). Compare also Old English wealwian (“to fade, wither”), Old English wlacu (“tepid, lukewarm”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
29th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.3%
of traced words share this origin (80)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, WELK · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English, Proto-Germanic.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
WELKES in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 101, 29 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 49 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 101, 29 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WELKES starts with W and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EEKLSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Could you have found WELKES?
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 101 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER