The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BALLON
Definition of BALLON
noun
The quality of a jump by which a ballet dancer appears to pause in midair
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From French ballon. Doublet of balloon.
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
5.3%
of traced words share this origin (4,423)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BALLON in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 137, 4 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 32 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 137, 4 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BALLON starts with B and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ABLLNO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. L appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start BALLON
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found BALLON?
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 137 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER