The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CIPHER
Definition of CIPHER
noun
A numeric character.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
14th century. From Middle English cifre, from Old French cyfre, cyffre (French chiffre), ultimately from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “zero, empty”), from صَفَرَ (ṣafara, “to be empty”). Doublet of chiffre and zero. Sense 8 (a fault in an organ valve) may be a different word.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
11th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1.4%
of traced words share this origin (1,070)
branch · 2.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CIPHER · 7 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.
CIPHER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 40 boards so far. 152 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 12, 1 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 155, 22 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 12, 1 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CIPHER starts with C and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read CEHIPR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start CIPHER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 12
Could you have found CIPHER?
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 12 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER