There's a TV show in the UK at least called Lingo that predates it by several years. It's literally the exact same game.

But full credit to Wordle's creator, the one word a day and social media sharing stuff is the real secret sauce.

Also Motus on French television.

But it doesn't matter, you can't protect a game concept with intellectual property. Neither patents nor copyright allow this. The only thing that could be protected here is the name Wordle, the art assets (if there are any that are nongeneric enough), and the exact source code.

See Tetris, etc.

That's Lingo, not Wordle.

Secondly, everyone keeps mentioning (repeating?...) about this famous TV show in the UK; I have never heard of it until december. Reading the gameplay of the show on Wikipedia.... it sounds like an almost entirely different game, aside from the fact it (sometimes!) involves a 5 letter word, and you have to pick letters. Mastermind (the game), is so much closer

Did you actually see the tv show?

This American Lingo TV game looks very similar. I think Wordle's hard mode is the same.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sC0kie6dPjo

Well it's daytime TV quiz show, so no reason you would have heard of it. The first rounds are the same as wordle. See for yourself: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O5O7ZCvpItY

Yes I've watched it, yes it is the exact same game with the exact same rules. (Across 4, 5 and 6 letter words).