The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WHALES
Definition of WHALES
noun
plural of whale
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
WHALES inherits its ancestry from its root, WHALE.
Line of descent
6 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
43rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.1%
of traced words share this origin (72)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, WHALE · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Dutch, Latin, Proto-Indo-European, Russian.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
WHALES in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 51 boards so far. 95 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 165, 1 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WHALES starts with W and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AEHLSW - 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.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found WHALES?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER