ordle is a word game that challenges players to guess the five-letter word of the day.
The web game has taken the world by storm since being launched last October, with thousands of people playing every day.
Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle first created a prototype of the game in 2013, but returned to it in January 2021 and worked on it during lockdown with his partner Palak Shah.
At first, only Wardle’s family played the game, but Wordle was released to a wider audience in October 2021–and its popularity snowballed, becoming a global phenomenon.
Wardle then sold the game to The New York Times in January “for an undisclosed price in the low seven figures.”
But the essence of the game has remained the same since the sale–and it’s as addictive as ever.
Be aware that there are spoilers ahead!
How to play Wordle
First, head to www.nytimes.com/games/wordle. You’ll find a blank grid, a keyboard, and a list of rules.
The aim of the game is to guess the five letter word in six guesses or fewer–and the fewer guesses you make, the better.
Every guess you make must be a valid five letter word, so you can’t just guess random letters.
When you make your guess, the letters will turn one of three colours: grey, yellow, or green.
If the letter is grey, it means it’s not in the word. This letter will also be greyed out on the keyboard.
If the letter is yellow, it means it is in the word, but in a different position. If the letter is green, it means you’ve guessed the right letter in the right position.
Keep guessing until all letters turn green and you reveal the correct word.
There is a new word to guess every day, and while some are fairly common (April’s words included “cheek” and “royal”, for example) others have been controversial (knoll, anyone?)
Find out below what the answer to today’s Wordle is, long with its definition. If you haven’t played Wordle yet today: spoiler warning!
There is a new Wordle word to guess every day.
/ Getty ImagesMay 18th Wordle answer
The Wordle answer for May 18th is “scour.”
Scour meaning
Scour is a verb defined by Merriam-Webster as “to rub hard especially with a rough material for cleansing,” “to clean by purging,” “to remove dirt and debris from something,” “to free from foreign matter or impurities by or as if by washing,” or “to clear, dig, or remove by or as if by a powerful current of water.”
As an intransitive verb, scour can also mean “to move about quickly especially in search,” or “ to go through or range over in or as if in a search.”