Welcome to Whence — the game where you get five chances a day to discover from whence English words came: the Greek and Latin roots that shaped them.

How to Play

There are five rounds, each harder than the last. Every round shows you what a word's Greek or Latin roots mean — never the roots themselves, and never the word.

For example, the clue "Greek roots meaning: light, to draw" points to roots that gave us PHOTOGRAPH — from phos (light) and graphe (drawing). That word is your answer.

• Guess letters. Each correct letter fills every box where it appears.
• Track your guesses. Letters you've already tried are marked below the boxes, so you won't repeat yourself.
• Keep going until the whole word appears. Then take a moment — the clock stops — to read where the word actually came from before moving on.

Scoring

Each round opens at its maximum score and starts dropping immediately as:

• the clock ticks — speed is king, and later rounds bleed faster;
• an incorrect letter is entered;
• a hint is requested, revealing a random letter — useful when stuck, but at a cost.

Pass is also available, skipping a word for zero on that round.

Ranks