Updated September 25, 2026 · 13 games
If you like knowing that salary may trace back to salt, or that a red herring was a real smoked fish, there is a small but growing set of games built around exactly that. Some are daily puzzles in the spirit of Wordle. Others are quizzes you can play any time.
We rounded up the ones that are free, play in a browser, and were live when we checked in September 2026. One of them is ours, and we say so where it appears.
Try one of today’s Origins Quiz clues
What word is Spanish for a 'rounding up' of cattle? The contest sense is American, and the town of Prescott, Arizona, claims the first organized one with prizes, held in 1888. (5 letters)
Play the other nine clues →A new puzzle every day, built around word origins.
One hidden 10-letter word and ten clues. Each answer starts with the next letter of the hidden word, and every clue is about where a word, name, place or brand came from. Solving a row gives you letters toward the others, and every puzzle has a roundup that tells the full story behind each answer.
Best for: People who like trivia as much as wordplay.
Play today’s puzzleFull disclosure: we make this one. It’s on this list because it’s the game we wished existed.
Nine words, three hidden word families that share a root, and three impostors that only look related. Sort them into the right groups, with up to three hints.
Best for: Spotting shared roots across words that look nothing alike.
You are shown the older word a modern word comes from, and have to name the modern word. Letters reveal one at a time, so the faster you solve it, the better your score.
Best for: A quick, timed daily round.
A daily puzzle about where words came from, using a map and a timeline of each word's roots. Its data comes from Wiktionary.
Best for: Geography fans: it is about where words traveled, not just what they meant.
Guess the day's word from clues about its history.
Best for: A Wordle-style guess with an etymology twist.
Trace one word back to its ancient roots each day.
Best for: Following a single word's family tree.
Not daily, but good for a longer session.
A short multiple-choice quiz on the histories of words like chauffeur, smithereens and connoisseur.
Best for: A gentle start if you are new to etymology.
A large collection of player-made quizzes tagged with word and name origins, from place names to brand names.
Best for: Binge-playing a specific theme.
Not about word origins directly, but they scratch the same itch.
One cryptic crossword clue a day, where the wordplay hides the answer inside the clue itself.
Best for: Learning how cryptic clues work, one clue at a time.
Guess a secret word. Each guess is scored by how close it is in meaning, not spelling.
Best for: Thinking about meaning rather than letters.
Guess a secret word, with every guess ranked by how close it is in meaning.
Best for: A friendlier take on the Semantle idea.
A Wikipedia article with every word blacked out. Guess words to reveal them until you can name the article.
Best for: Deduction and general knowledge.
Place events and inventions from Wikipedia in the right order on a timeline.
Best for: History buffs who like a "which came first" question.
Ten clues, one hidden word, and a new origin story every day.
Play today’s Origins Quiz