Accepted guess Not a possible answer C tier for first-turn info

ZERDA

ZERDA is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

The fennec (Vulpes zerda).

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

Etymology

From Arabic [script needed] (zerdawā), probably of Persian origin; compare Persian زرد (zard, “yellow”) and the dialectal suffix و (-ow, -aw) that creates nouns from adjectives.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

Use ZERDA in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 92.4% of possible answers.

Wordle status

A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

How ZERDA performs as a guess

Wordle accepts ZERDA as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 82.5% of games, misses completely in 17.5%, and leaves about 181 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,364 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.77 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe ZERDA 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.

4.47 Entropy (bits)
181 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
92.4% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ZERDA 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.

3.77 Avg guesses
99.83% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#10,364 Rank among openers
Opening with ZERDA left 4 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.77 average. It ranks #10,364 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
52
3 guesses
742
4 guesses
1,270
5 guesses
268
6 guesses
18

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AER

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
82%
Green tile
21%
All gray
18%

Feedback distribution

ZERDA can come back 75 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

417 answers
283 answers
252 answers
160 answers
152 answers
141 answers
111 answers
78 answers
71 answers
65 answers
54 answers
45 answers
38 answers
37 answers
34 answers
34 answers
32 answers
31 answers
28 answers
27 answers
27 answers
25 answers
21 answers
18 answers
15 answers
15 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

Base letter-value totals for ZERDA; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.

Scrabble

Z10E1R1D2A1
Total: 15 points

Words With Friends

Total: 15 points

Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.

Strategy after playing ZERDA

What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ZERDA.

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ZERDA:

17% chance
Suggested:
SOILY
12% chance
Suggested:
SLANT
11% chance
Suggested:
STILE

Follow-ups for common patterns

Ranked follow-up guesses for the 10 most common feedback patterns.

17.5% →
SOILY 5.72 bits
11.9% →
SLANT 5.42 bits
10.6% →
STILE 5.46 bits
6.7% →
TOISE 4.53 bits
6.4% →
SLATE 4.87 bits
5.9% →
GROUT 4.96 bits
4.7% →
COAST 4.48 bits
3.3% →
SLEET 3.83 bits
3.0% →
SENTE 4.03 bits
2.7% →
SOULY 4.61 bits

Research on ZERDA

Game-tree analysis and word research for ZERDA, with an explanation for each figure.

Optimal play

Opening with ZERDA, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,597 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 ZERDA can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.77, at or below the proven-optimal 3.78, 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.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT).