Every word came from somewhere. Find where.
Coffee is Arabic. Robot is Czech. Shampoo is Hindi. Each day Wanderwort gives you five English words, and you guess where they came from.
Plus COINAGE: spot the word we invented · KIN PAIR: find the two that share an ancestor.
3 tries
1 daily set
5 wordsHow to win
You have three tries per word. Right first time scores 1,000 points, second 600, third 300. Get all five right first time for a perfect 5,000, and answer an Origin or Pair word right within 8 seconds for a ⚡ +100 speed bonus. Then beat your best tomorrow, or send a friend the same five words and see who scores more.
Stuck? Spend a gloss ◆
Narrow (1) removes a wrong answer · Family (1) names the language family · Waypoint (2) shows one step · Skip (3) moves on with zero points. Helps take 25% off the round. Earn a gloss each day you play and more for streaks, or get 7 every day with Plus.
Keep coming back
Play daily for a streak (a free freeze every 14 days). Every word you solve lands on your atlas; three routes through a language claims it. Collect badges, climb from Wanderer to Philologist, and send a friend your exact five words to beat.
After your first 50 days, words you know come back in a new order: beat your own time on each one to score.
New: Map Drill
A second game, any time of day. You see an English word and home in on where it began: first the continent, then the region, then the language family, and finally a pin on the map, scored by how close you land. One word a run, two free runs a day.
Every right answer stays on screen as a trail, so you watch the word’s home narrow down from continent to region, family, place and finally its language.
Easy asks for the continent and region (up to 500 points) · Medium adds the family (700) · Hard adds the pin (1,000) · Expert skips the continent clue and brings in slang and rare words (1,200). Your best run each day adds to your weekly score.
You get free runs every day; Plus makes them unlimited. Play Map Drill →
The Game Center
Every game also has its own page: Origin, Meaning, Route, Kin, Kin Pair, Coinage and Map Drill. Each one fills up with the puzzles you have already met in your daily five, so nothing there spoils what is coming, and a game unlocks once you have met five of its puzzles. With Plus, every game is open straight away. Runs there never change your daily score or streak, but your best run in each game adds up to 168 points a day to the weekly leaderboard.
You get free runs of each game every day. Plus makes every game unlimited and adds your archive (replay any day you have played) and your Etymo report.
Everyone starts at Day 1. Your next five words are ready each new day you come back; miss a day and they simply wait for you. Progress stays on your device, or sign up to keep it everywhere (privacy).