The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
COMBING
Definition of COMBING
verb
present participle and gerund of comb
noun
A toothed implement: A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place. A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers. The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings. A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser. The notched scale of a wire micrometer. The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb. A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis. A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave. One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate. A ctene.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
COMBING inherits its ancestry from its root, COMB.
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.3%
of traced words share this origin (11,259)
How it is built
Same root, COMB · 11 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Sanskrit, Swedish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
COMBING 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 30, 19 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 30, 19 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
COMBING starts with C and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read BCGIMNO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start COMBIN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 30
Could you have found COMBING?
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 30 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER