The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CANTANKEROUS
Definition of CANTANKEROUS
adjective
Given to or marked by an ill-tempered, quarrelsome nature; ill-tempered, cranky, crabby.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Perhaps derived from earlier contenkerous, from contentious + rancorous.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CANTANKEROUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far. 38 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 139, 6 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CANTANKEROUS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AACEKNNORSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A and N appear more than once.
Words that start CANTANKE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found CANTANKEROUS?
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 139 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER