PEARL

Meaning

A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks, especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels, and sometimes in certain univalves. It is usually due to a secretion of shelly substance around some irritating foreign particle. Its substance is the same as nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery.

• verb(sometimes figurative) To set or adorn with pearls, or with mother-of-pearl.

PEARL as a word-puzzle answer

PEARL is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (E, A) and 3 consonants (P, R, L). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (E, A, R), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.

PEARL by the numbers

Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, E appears in 50% of answers (the 1st most common letter), A appears in 40% of answers (the 2nd most common letter), R appears in 37% of answers (the 3rd most common letter). 11 other answers share the opening “PE-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.

Difficulty: 1/5 — very approachable, because its letters are common and no close neighbors compete with it.

Put it to use

Words like PEARL are exactly what the daily puzzles throw at you. Warm up in Practice, race the clock in the Daily Challenge, or study the best starting words before your next run. New to the multi-board modes? The mode guides cover all nine.