The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BUCKTHORN
Definition of BUCKTHORN
noun
Any of several, often thorny shrubs or small trees, especially the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae), especially genus Rhamnus, especially common buckthorn or purging buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). also alder buckthorn (Frangula), especially Frangula alnus). sea buckthorn (Hippophae, in family Elaeagnaceae).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Calque of Latin cervī spīna (“deer's thorny shrub”), cervi (“deer's”) being the genitive singular of cervus (“deer”), from Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) + *-wós, spīna (“thorny shrub”) from Proto-Italic *speinā, from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“sharp point”). By surface analysis, buck + thorn.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Proto-Indo-European
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
9%
of traced words share this origin (2,616)
How it is built
Same root, BUCKTHORN · 1 relative in the game
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.
BUCKTHORN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 21 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 144, 11 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 42, 1 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BUCKTHORN starts with B and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read BCHKNORTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found BUCKTHORN?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER