The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ALGORITHM
Definition of ALGORITHM
noun
A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English algorisme, augrym, from Anglo-Norman algorisme, augrim, from Medieval Latin algorismus, from Arabic الخَوَارِزْمِيّ (al-ḵawārizmiyy), the nisba of Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and a toponymic name meaning "the Chorasmian". The spelling change (-s- > -th-) was influenced by unrelated Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós) (whence English arithmo-).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
6 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,672)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ALGORITHM · 1 relative in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ALGORITHM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 42 boards so far. 82 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 13, 2 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ALGORITHM starts with A and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read AGHILMORT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start ALGORI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found ALGORITHM?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER