The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
AUTEUR
Definition of AUTEUR
noun
A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or preeminent ‘author’ of their works.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French auteur (“author”). Popularised by François Truffaut in the 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain tendency in French cinema”) in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma as the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”. Doublet of author.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- French
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
7.2%
of traced words share this origin (2,177)
branch · 15.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, AUTEUR · 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.
AUTEUR in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 35 boards so far. 65 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 10, 30 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 10, 30 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
AUTEUR starts with A and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AERTUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. U appears more than once.
Words that start AUTEUR
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 10
Could you have found AUTEUR?
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 10 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER