The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

YERK

/jɜː(ɹ)k/4 letters

Definition of YERK

verb

To stab (someone or something).

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English ȝerken (“to move suddenly, excite, bind tightly, attack”), from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready”), compare ġearc (“active, quick”). Cognate with jerk; see yare for more cognates.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Word DNA

Line of descent

  1. Old English
  2. Middle English
  3. English

2 recorded generations before English.

Old English

Deepest traced root

7th

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

3.7%

of traced words share this origin (3,005)

Germanic

branch · 22.6% of traced words

How it is built

verb1 syllable

Same root, YERK · 5 relatives in the game

Every Old English word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

YERK in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 11 boards so far. 11 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 165
Its 11 boards, across 165 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
11
Boards found on
31
First board
149
Latest board
35
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 31, 20 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 16 days.

First found by a player on Day 31, 20 June 2026.

Built from these letters

YERK
4
Letters
1
Vowels
3
Consonants
4
Different letters
2
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

YERK starts with Y and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read EKRY - 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 YERK

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found YERK?

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 31 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER