WORDLE

What Does WORDLE Mean in a Text?

Gaming Slang for Newbies

If you're new to gaming, then there is more to learn than just a game's moves and strategy. Gamers should also be familiar with gaming slang, which has around 200 terms in common usage, many of which are difficult for new players to guess. But, you should persevere. Understanding gaming jargon improves collaboration by helping gamers to convey complex strategies, emotions, and actions quickly. Here is the term you care about:

WORDLE is a daily online word game.

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WORDLE is a once-a-day online word-puzzle game that went viral in January 2022, especially on Twitter. WORDLE is free to play and has a simple format, similar to Sudoku. Like a crossword, one new puzzle is published every day, sparking a race to find the WORDLE of the day. There are also versions of WORDLE that allow two players to have a one-on-one "WORDLE-off." Here's an example by YouAgainst.Me. The premise of WORDLE is similar to the popular code-breaking board game Mastermind. Players have to guess the five-letter word of the day in six tries. Each guess must be a valid word and after each guess the color of the tiles will change to show how close it was to the actual word. For example:

(Photo: WORDLE)

As can be seen in the above example:

If any of the letters are highlighted in green, it means that letter is in the word and it is in the right place.
If any of the letters are highlighted in yellow, it means that letter is in the word, but it's in the wrong place.
If any of the letters are highlighted in gray, it means that letter isn't included anywhere in the word.

WORDLE is a game for individuals, but players often challenge each other to solve the puzzle against the clock or in the fewest steps, or using specific apps like the one provided by YouAgainst.Me (above). Once the puzzle is solved, the built-in share feature makes it easy for players to publish their game steps on social media without revealing the target word or the words they used to find it. WORDLE was invented by Josh Wardle, a software engineer who created the game for his girlfriend, Palak Shah, who is a fan of word games. With the help of Palak, Josh selected approximately 2500 of the over 12000 five-letter words in the English language, to make WARDLE playable by most people without an exceptionally extensive or specific vocabulary. In February 2022, Josh sold WORDLE to the New York Times. There is no app for WORDLE. It is currently only available online at: www.nytimes.com/games/wordle. For those who simply have to win or are struggling with a WORDLE puzzle, a number of "crackers" are available online. WORDLE has inspired a number of spin offs, including Lewdle (which uses lewd five-letter words) and Sweardle (which used profane four-letter words).

Image for WORDLE

When I write WORDLE, I mean this:

"Daily Online Word Game"

Summary of Key Points

"Daily Online Word Game" is, by far, the most common meaning for WORDLE when it is used in a text. (Bear in mind that it could have another meaning if used in a different context.)