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WHOLE
Definition of WHOLE
adjective
Entire, undivided.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The spelling with wh-, attested since ca. 1400, represents an excrescent /w/, which developed in words with initial /(h)ɔː/, /(h)oː/ in southwestern dialects of Middle English. While this pronunciation did not establish itself in the standard language (except in one), the spelling survived in whole and whore, in the former case likely reinforced by a desire to disambiguate from hole. Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy. False cognate of Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos).
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.
WHOLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 101 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 108, 5 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
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
WHOLE starts with W and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EHLOW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start WHOLE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found WHOLE?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER