The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BACTERIOPHAGE
Definition of BACTERIOPHAGE
noun
A virus that specifically infects bacteria.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French bactériophage, coined by microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle, from bacterio- (“bacteria”) + -phage (“eater”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- French
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.2%
of traced words share this origin (2,103)
branch · 15.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, BACTERIOPHAGE · 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.
BACTERIOPHAGE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 22 boards so far. 65 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 12, 1 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 144, 11 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 12, 1 June 2026.
Built from these letters
BACTERIOPHAGE starts with B and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AABCEEGHIOPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A and E appear more than once.
Words that start BACTERIOP
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 12
Could you have found BACTERIOPHAGE?
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 12 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER