The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
AUTHOR
Definition of AUTHOR
noun
The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic. Doublet of auteur.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
13th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1.1%
of traced words share this origin (340)
branch · 15.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, AUTHOR · 3 relatives 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.
AUTHOR in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 4, 25 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 4, 25 May 2026.
Built from these letters
AUTHOR starts with A and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AHORTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start AUTHOR
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 4
Could you have found AUTHOR?
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 4 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER