The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WHALE
Definition of WHALE
noun
Any large cetacean, usually with the exclusion of dolphins and porpoises.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English whal, whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
WHALE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 45 boards so far. 96 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 12, 1 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 104, 1 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
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
WHALE starts with W and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AEHLW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 WHALE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 12
Could you have found WHALE?
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 12 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER