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YOKE
Definition of YOKE
noun
Senses relating to a frame around the neck. A bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; two draught animals connected by such a yoke; a device attached to a single draught animal for the same purpose. Any of various linking or supporting objects that resembles a yoke (sense 1.1); a crosspiece, a curved bar, etc. A pole carried on the neck and shoulders of a person, used for carrying a pair of buckets, etc., one at each end of the pole; a carrying pole.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English iuc, jok, yok, yoke, ȝok, ȝook, from Old English ġeoc, ġioc, ioc (“yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic *juk, from Proto-Germanic *juką (“yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from *yewg- (“to join, yoke”). Doublet of yuga, jugum, yoga and possibly yogh. Senses 3.1 (“area of arable land”) and 3.2 (“amount of work done with draught animals”) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Juk (“yoke”), Cimbrian jòch (“yoke”), Dutch juk (“yoke; burden”), German Joch (“yoke”), Luxembourgish Jach (“yoke”), Danish åg (“yoke”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish ok (“yoke”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk åk (“yoke”), Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌺 (juk, “yoked pair of animals”); also Breton yev (“yoke”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic cuing (“yoke; bond, tie”), Manx quing (“yoke”), Welsh iau (“yoke”), Latin iugum, jugum (“yoke”), Greek ζυγός (zygós, “even; twin”), Latvian jūgs (“yoke; bondage; cart”), Lithuanian jungas (“yoke”), Bulgarian и́го (ígo), юго (jugo, “yoke”), Czech jho (“yoke”), Kashubian jigò, jugò (“yoke”), Macedonian иго (igo, “yoke”), Polabian jaiďü (“yoke”), Russian и́го (ígo, “yoke”), Serbo-Croatian и́го, ígo (“yoke”), Slovene igo (“yoke”), Ukrainian і́го (ího, “yoke”), Armenian լուծ (luc, “harness, yoke”), Persian یوغ (yuġ, “yoke”), Hittite 𒄿𒌑𒃷 (yukan, “yoke”), Tocharian A yokäm (“door”), Sanskrit युग (yuga, “yoke; brace; couple, pair”).
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.
YOKE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 23 boards so far. 49 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 20, 9 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 112, 9 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 20, 9 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
YOKE starts with Y and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EKOY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start YOKE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 20
Could you have found YOKE?
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 20 - and most players walked straight past it.
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