The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BOSS
Definition of BOSS
noun
One who is in charge of something. One who oversees and directs the work of others; a supervisor.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Dutch baas, from Middle Dutch baes (“master of a household, friend”), from Old Dutch *baso (“uncle, kinsman”), from Proto-West Germanic *baswō, from Proto-Germanic *baswô (“uncle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *ba-, *bō- (“father, older male relative”), source also of the English terms babe, boy, bub, bully. Cognate with Middle Low German bās (“supervisor, foreman”), Old Frisian bas (“master”), hence Saterland Frisian Boas (“boss”), Old High German basa (“father's sister, cousin”), hence German Base (“aunt, cousin”). Originally a term of respect used to address an older relative. Later, in New Amsterdam, it began to mean a person in charge who is not a master. The video game sense is borrowed from Japanese ボス (bosu), borrowed from English boss.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.3%
of traced words share this origin (980)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Japanese, Middle Low German.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BOSS in OUTLIER
It has fitted 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 76, 4 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 72 days.
First found by a player on Day 118, 15 September 2026.
Built from these letters
BOSS starts with B and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read BOSS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once, including a double letter.
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 BOSS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found BOSS?
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 76 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER