LILAC
Yes, LILAC was the Wordle answer on July 3, 2022 (Wordle #379).
As an opener, it rules out about 90.3% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪlək//ˈlaɪlæk//ˈlaɪlɑk/
- Noun
-
A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink, or purple flowers.
- Noun
-
A flower of the lilac shrub.
- Adjective
-
Having a pale purple colour.
- Adjective
-
Of a cat or its fur: having a pale brown colour, lighter than chocolate.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: July 3, 2022 (#379).
See the full page for that puzzle: July 3, 2022 (#379).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How LILAC performs as a guess
LILAC is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 77.0% of games, misses completely in 23.0%, and leaves about 231 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,570 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 guesses in games solved within six turns.
Try your feedback pattern
Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe LILAC used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How LILAC performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches LILAC in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LILAC can come back 74 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for LILAC; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing LILAC
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LILAC.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LILAC:
Research on LILAC
Game-tree analysis and word research for LILAC, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LILAC, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.79 guesses and ranks #10,108 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with LILAC can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.73, at or below the proven-optimal 3.79, because the two figures score different answer lists.
These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it LYLAK.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, LILAC is a kind of bush.
Synonyms lavender
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LILAC sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 8, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 75 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.2 of 5).
In a sentence
The color of lilac is named after the lilac flower.
My mother loved lilac bushes so I planted some outside her door.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).