The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BACTERIA
Definition of BACTERIA
noun
plural of bacterium
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”); by surface analysis, bacteri(um) + -a.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,280)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, BACTERIA · 12 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.
BACTERIA in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 24 boards so far. 35 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 162, 29 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
BACTERIA starts with B and ends with A. Sorted, its letters read AABCEIRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start BACTER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found BACTERIA?
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