The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CODE
Definition of CODE
noun
A short textual designation, often with little relation to the item it represents.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English code (“system of law”), from Old French code (“system of law”), from Latin cōdex, later form of caudex (“the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.”). Doublet of codex. Verb verb sense 7 is an ellipsis of code blue (“medical emergency”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.6%
of traced words share this origin (25,170)
branch · 30.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CODE · 13 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.
CODE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 19 boards so far. 22 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 164, 31 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
CODE starts with C and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read CDEO - 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 CODE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found CODE?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER