The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

ESPY

/ɪˈspaɪ/4 letters

Definition of ESPY

verb

To find out or observe (someone or something, especially if not easy to see) by spying or looking; to catch sight of; to see; to spot.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English aspien, espien (“to make covert observations of (a person or place) with hostile intent, to spy on; to seek to discover by spying; to act as a spy; to catch sight of, see; to look over, observe; to wait in ambush, to ambush; to plot against; to look for, seek to find; to inquire or look into, investigate; to discover, find”) [and other forms], from Old French espier (“to watch”) (modern French épier (“to keep an eye on, watch; to spy on; (dated) to watch for”)), from Vulgar Latin *spiāre, from Frankish *spehōn (“to look, peer; to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to look, peer; to spy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look, observe, see”). Doublet of spy.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

ESPY in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 16 boards so far. 29 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 102
Its 16 boards, across 102 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
16
Boards found on
27
First board
102
Latest board
24
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First ever to find it

thamonsta

on Day 27, 16 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

ESPY
4
Letters
1
Vowels
3
Consonants
4
Different letters
3
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

ESPY starts with E and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read EPSY - 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.

Words that start ESPY

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found ESPY?

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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER

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The OUTLIER card for ESPYDownload image