The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

BOATSWAIN

/ˈbəʊ.sən/9 letters

Definition of BOATSWAIN

noun

A person aboard ship who is in charge of various maritime affairs. The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship. The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English botswain, botswein, bote-swayn, from late Old English bātsweġen, from bāt (“boat”) + sweġen (“swain”), the latter element a borrowing from Old Norse sveinn (“boy”); equivalent to boat + swain (“boy, servant”).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

BOATSWAIN in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 31 boards so far. 114 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 98
Its 31 boards, across 98 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
31
Boards found on
24
First board
97
Latest board
7
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 97, 25 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.

First ever to find it

lxjdr

on Day 24, 13 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

BOATSWAIN
9
Letters
4
Vowels
5
Consonants
8
Different letters
3
Longest consonant run
2
Longest vowel run

BOATSWAIN starts with B and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AABINOSTW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.

Words that start BOATSW

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

BOATSWAINS

Could you have found BOATSWAIN?

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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.

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