The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CATKIN
Definition of CATKIN
noun
A type of inflorescence, consisting of an axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle Dutch katteken (“catkin”, literally “little cat”). So named due to the resemblance of lengthier kinds to a kitten's tail, or, perhaps more probably, the fine fur found on some catkins (compare the pictures). Cognate with German Kätzchen, modern Dutch katje; compare French chaton (“kitten”; “catkin”). By surface analysis, cat + -kin.
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.
CATKIN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 7 boards so far. 10 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 20, 9 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 20, 9 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
CATKIN starts with C and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACIKNT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 20
Could you have found CATKIN?
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 20 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER