The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CURTAIL
Definition of CURTAIL
verb
To cut short the tail of (an animal).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Alteration of curtal, from Old French courtault (“which has been shortened”), itself from court (“short”) (from Latin curtus) + -ault
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old French
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
9th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
2.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,361)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CURTAIL · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Latin.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CURTAIL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 36 boards so far. 71 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 163, 30 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CURTAIL starts with C and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ACILRTU - 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 CURTAI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found CURTAIL?
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