The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CARTON
Definition of CARTON
noun
An inexpensive, disposable box-like container fashioned from either paper, paper with wax-covering (wax paper), or other lightweight material.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French carton, from Italian cartone. Doublet of cartoon.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
10th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1.7%
of traced words share this origin (1,351)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CARTON · 2 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CARTON in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 6 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 28, 17 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 163, 30 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 28, 17 June 2026.
Built from these letters
CARTON starts with C and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACNORT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start CARTON
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 28
Could you have found CARTON?
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 28 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER