The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ASCUS
Definition of ASCUS
noun
A sac-shaped cell present in ascomycete fungi; it is a reproductive cell in which meiosis and an additional cell division produce eight spores.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From New Latin ascus, from Ancient Greek ἀσκός (askós, “a sac”). Doublet of askos.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,608)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ASCUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 140, 7 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ASCUS starts with A and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ACSSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Could you have found ASCUS?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER