The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
COURTEOUS
Definition of COURTEOUS
adjective
Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”). By surface analysis, court + -eous. Compare typologically Czech zdvořilý (<~ dvůr), German höflich (<~ Hof). Also note Russian прийти́сь ко двору́ (prijtísʹ ko dvorú). Compare typologically civil, urbane. See pagan for the opposite.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old French
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
9th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
2.9%
of traced words share this origin (829)
branch · 15.4% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Czech, German, Russian.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
COURTEOUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 17 boards so far. 31 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 143, 10 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
COURTEOUS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CEOORSTUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O and U appear more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start COURTE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found COURTEOUS?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER