The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BUNKUM
Definition of BUNKUM
noun
Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From buncombe, from “speaking to (or for) Buncombe County, North Carolina”, a county in North Carolina named for Edward Buncombe. In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented the county in the U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address the question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state, his first attempt to speak on the subject after nearly a month of solid debate, right before the vote was to be called. To the exasperation of colleagues, he began a long and wearisome speech, explaining that he was speaking not to Congress but "to Buncombe." He was ultimately shouted down by his colleagues, though his speech was published in a Washington paper and his persistence made "buncombe" (later respelled "bunkum") a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense, at first only in the jargon of Washington and then in common usage.
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.
BUNKUM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 9 boards so far. 48 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 22, 11 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 97, 25 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 22, 11 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BUNKUM starts with B and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read BKMNUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. U appears more than once.
Also seen on Day 22
Could you have found BUNKUM?
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 22 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER