The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CALTROPS
Definition of CALTROPS
noun
plural of caltrop
noun
A metal object, usually small, with spikes arranged so that, when thrown onto the ground, one always faces up as a threat to pedestrians, horses, and vehicles (also used as a heraldic charge).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Another sense
CALTROPS carries a second meaning.
noun
Plural form of caltrop.
Word DNA
CALTROPS inherits its ancestry from its root, CALTROP.
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (9,643)
branch · 33.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CALTROP · 1 relative in the game
CALTROPS in a sentence
“Police who conducted the pre-convention raids claim to have found 37 "caltrops" -- spikes that are scattered on a motorway to disable cars during a police pursuit.”
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CALTROPS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 45 boards so far. 134 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 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 27, 16 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CALTROPS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ACLOPRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found CALTROPS?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER