The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CROSS
Definition of CROSS
noun
A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rode, from Old English rōd (“cross”); see English rood. Doublet of crouch (“cross”) and crux. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois. The sense of "two intersecting lines drawn or cut on a surface; two lines intersecting at right angles" without regard to religious signification develops from the late 14th century.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (10,004)
branch · 33.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CROSS · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Welsh.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CROSS in OUTLIER
It has fitted 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 153, 20 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 140, 7 October 2026.
Built from these letters
CROSS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CORSS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start CROSS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found CROSS?
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 153 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER