The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WHELKS
Definition of WHELKS
noun
plural of whelk
noun
Certain edible sea snails, especially, any one of numerous species of large marine gastropods belonging to Buccinidae, much used as food in Europe.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
WHELKS inherits its ancestry from its root, WHELK.
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.4%
of traced words share this origin (11,201)
How it is built
Same root, WHELK · 8 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Middle Dutch.
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.
WHELKS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 55 boards so far. 352 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 22, 11 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 156, 23 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 22, 11 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WHELKS starts with W and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EHKLSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 22
Could you have found WHELKS?
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 22 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER