Wordle, the five-letter, daily word-guessing game, sent the world into an absolute frenzy on Friday, 19th December. In fact, the word chosen by Wordle was so arduous that it threw off even the biggest
nerds out there. Ever since the #1644 puzzle came out, Wordle enthusiasts have wondered why the puzzle, known for being a brainteaser, turn into a test of vocabulary. Worse, the word that left one and many infuriated came with no vowels.
But again, what is Wordle?
Wordle
If you have somehow forgotten about Wordle or no longer partake in bragging about solving the five-letter word game, don’t worry, we have you covered.
Firstly, there’s only one word per day to guess on Wordle. The game gives you six attempts to guess the five-letter word. Each guess indicates how close or far the player is from the word. A green tile indicates that the word guessed by the player has a letter or letters in the right spot. A yellow tile indicates that the letter does exist in the word, but is placed in an incorrect position. A grey tile simply means the guessed letter is not in the word at all.
Wordle Origin
Wordle originated from a bit of a love story. Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle was inspired by his partner Palak Shah’s love for NYT‘s word games. A play on his surname, Wardle and Shah played the game for months, and it was a success among their family members.
Then, Wardle had a novel idea to release Wordle to the world and in a couple of months of its release, the word-guessing game became a blockbuster success. Almost poetically, NYT bought the game from Wardle on January 31, 2022.
Wordle Sends World In Meltdown
It was a calm Friday when Wordle presented a new word to guess in 24 hours, and in no time, all hell broke loose.
An army of Wordle lovers queued up to warn others about the imminent defeat that was marching their way.
Tech YouTube channel MKBHD’s Marques Brownlee wrote:
“If you’re having a good day today, don’t play wordle.”
If you're having a good day today, don't play wordle
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) December 19, 2025
this is making me giggle so bad rn pic.twitter.com/lkS4DrCQOV
— taylor ???? (@sbsvinyl) December 19, 2025
The lack of vowels in the word made it infinitely worse for Wordle lovers.
playing today's wordle and there's no vowels pic.twitter.com/zyq9l37IuP
— Ace♡ (@trashwoman_ace) December 19, 2025
The guesses were disturbing, as were the memes.
today's wordle pic.twitter.com/NtH0dmUkST
— fishman (@asianfissureman) December 19, 2025
“Guys please trust me and go play the wordle right now it is actually the hardest wordle ever made, what the f**k was that (sic),” quipped a user on X.
So… What Was The Word?
MYRRH
According to Merriam-Webster, myrrh (noun) means: “a yellowish-brown to reddish-brown aromatic gum resin with a bitter slightly pungent taste obtained from a tree (especially Commiphora myrrha of the family Burseraceae) of eastern Africa and Arabia.”
Far away from X, things were muted on Reddit’s r/Wordle Subreddit for the most part. Many guessed the word in 3-4 attempts, sure, but admitted that it wasn’t a walk in the park by any means.
“This one was a real whip. I got it eventually. Probably 30 random guesses that aren’t real words until I got it right. Almost gave up and typed in real words I knew it couldn’t be based on eliminated letters just to see what the f it was,” wrote one.
“I had exhausted all vowels by my second guess which actually allowed me to get this one on my third, because I just.”
“what the f**k was this,” wrote a third.
Another Redditor comically wrote: “Doesn’t even look like a real word.”
