The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DATE
Definition of DATE
noun
The fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft, sweet pulp and enclosing a hard kernel.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English date, from Old French date, datil, datille, from Latin dactylus (likely via Old Provençal datil), from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”) (from the resemblance of the date to a human finger), probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل (daqal, “variety of date palm”) or Hebrew דֶּקֶל (deqel, “date palm”). Doublet of dactyl and dactylus. Displaced native Old English fingeræppel, literally "finger-apple".
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
6 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
17th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.7%
of traced words share this origin (552)
branch · 2.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, DATE · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DATE in OUTLIER
It has fitted 71 boards so far. 39 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 1, 22 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 166, 2 November 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
DATE starts with D and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ADET - 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 DATE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 1
Could you have found DATE?
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 1 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER