The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BACKWASHING
Definition of BACKWASHING
noun
A form of water treatment in which water is pumped backwards through the filter media, sometimes with intermittent use of compressed air.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From back + washing.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
How it is built
Same root, WAT · 25 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.
BACKWASHING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 8 boards so far. 11 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 31, 20 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 156, 23 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 31, 20 June 2026.
Built from these letters
BACKWASHING starts with B and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read AABCGHIKNSW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start BACKWAS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 31
Could you have found BACKWASHING?
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 31 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER