The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DEANS
Definition of DEANS
noun
plural of dean
noun
A senior official in a college or university, who may be in charge of a division or faculty (for example, the dean of science) or have some other advisory or disciplinary function (for example, the dean of students).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
DEANS inherits its ancestry from its root, DEAN.
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.7%
of traced words share this origin (25,613)
branch · 30.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, DEAN · 5 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DEANS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 17, 6 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 66 days.
First found by a player on Day 17, 6 June 2026.
Built from these letters
DEANS starts with D and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ADENS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 17
Could you have found DEANS?
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 17 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER