The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BONE
Definition of BONE
noun
A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English bon, from Old English bān (“bone, tusk; the bone of a limb”), from Proto-Germanic *bainą (“bone”), from *bainaz (“straight”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Cognate with Scots bane, been, bean, bein, bain (“bone”), North Frisian bian, Biin, biinj (“bone; leg”), West Frisian bien (“bone”), Dutch been (“bone; leg”), German Low German Been, Bein (“bone”), German Bein (“leg”), German Gebein (“bones”), Swedish ben (“bone; leg”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Icelandic bein (“bone; leg”), Breton benañ (“to cut, hew”), Latin perfinēs (“break through, break into pieces, shatter”), Avestan 𐬠𐬫𐬈𐬥𐬙𐬈 (byente, “they fight, hit”). Related also to Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”) (whence Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cosy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”)), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein (“straight, direct, easy to deal with”). See bain, bein. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Details needed on where the "dollar" sense comes into this. Is that from gambling slang?”)
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BONE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 11 boards so far. 26 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 6, 27 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 107, 4 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BONE starts with B and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read BENO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start BONE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 6
Could you have found BONE?
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 6 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER