The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
WINNOW
Definition of WINNOW
verb
To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,608)
How it is built
Same root, WINNOW · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Icelandic, Latin.
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.
WINNOW in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far. 19 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 139, 6 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
WINNOW starts with W and ends with W. Sorted, its letters read INNOWW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. W and N appear more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start WINNOW
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found WINNOW?
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 139 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER