The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BRAIN
Definition of BRAIN
noun
The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull, consisting of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem, which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English brayn, from Old English bræġn, from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną, from Proto-Indo-European *mrógʰ-n̥ ~ *mrégʰ-n̥-s, from *mregʰ- + *-n̥. Cognate with Scots braine, brane (“brain”), North Frisian brayen, brein, Brain (“brain”), Saterland Frisian Brainge, Bräienge (“brain”), West Frisian brein (“brain”), Dutch brein (“brain”), Low German Brägen, Bregen (“brain”) (whence German Bregen (“animal brain”)), Ancient Greek βρεχμός (brekhmós, “front part of the skull, top of the head”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,623)
How it is built
Same root, BRAIN · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Dutch, Scots.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BRAIN in OUTLIER
It has fitted 1 board so far. 61 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 127, 24 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 21 days.
First found by a player on Day 9, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
BRAIN starts with B and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ABINR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start BRAIN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found BRAIN?
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 127 - and most players walked straight past it.
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