The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ERBIUM
Definition of ERBIUM
noun
A chemical element (symbol Er) with atomic number 68: a silvery-white metal, in nature always found in combination with other elements. An atom of this element.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from New Latin erbium; itself from Swedish Ytterby (the name of the town where the element was discovered) + -ium. Coined by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843. Doublet of terbium, ytterbium, and yttrium.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
24th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.4%
of traced words share this origin (114)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ERBIUM · 1 relative 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.
ERBIUM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 43 boards so far. 69 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 30, 19 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 147, 14 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 30, 19 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ERBIUM starts with E and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read BEIMRU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 30
Could you have found ERBIUM?
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 30 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER