Today's Wordle Answer #562 - January 2, 2023 Solution And Hints

The first Wordle puzzle aligning with 2023's first weekday is quite a versatile one. The solution defines the act of avoiding something by going around it. Dodging or circumnavigating also come to mind when this word comes up. Interestingly, in its noun form, the answer also refers to a garment — not just any garment, but one of the first and oldest garments that mankind started wearing, originally fashioning it out of animal pelts or fleece.

If you've seen the acclaimed animated action horror "Primal," well, that's the only garment worn by the gibberish-speaking Neanderthal protagonist fans know as Spear. As the clock moved from pre-historic times to the majestic Egyptian civilization, it became a garment made out of linen with intricate patterns adorning it. The form changed, and so did the styling, but this piece of outfit — worn by both men and women — passed on from different civilizations and across the Middle Ages, all the way into the modern era. Here's another hint: the word has only a single vowel, an "I" right in the middle.

If you're here, you clearly haven't cracked the code yet. The answer is skirt, the humble dress that is usually wrapped and comes in different shapes and forms, but is easy to spot across every continent on planet Earth. Interestingly, the first proper fabric-based skirts were apparently styled for Egyptian men (via State University of New York), while women wore long robes. It looks like Brad Pitt wanted to pay homage to that piece of history when he arrived on the red carpet of his action flick "Bullet Train" wearing a skirt. He defended his fashion choice by arguing that "We're all going to die, so let's mess it up," according to Variety.

The length of the skirt changed over time, but it was the 20th century when its popularity exploded among women, according to Fashion Gone Rogue, as variations like maxi skirt, tencel skirt, midi skirt, and pencil skirt hit shelves. Digging a bit into the etymological side of things, the word skirt is said to be a derivative of the Old English term "skirt" and the Old Norse word "skyrta" (via Etymonline). A famous quote about skirts comes from Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who is quoted as having said, "Don't let anyone make you believe the length of your skirt is a measure of your character."