The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CATEGORY
Definition of CATEGORY
noun
A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Late Middle English, borrowed from French catégorie, from Middle French categorie, from Late Latin catēgoria (“class of predicables”), from Ancient Greek κατηγορία (katēgoría, “head of predicables”). Doublet of categoria.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,655)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CATEGORY · 5 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.
CATEGORY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 71 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 175, 11 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CATEGORY starts with C and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ACEGORTY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start CATEGO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found CATEGORY?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER