The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ETCH
Definition of ETCH
verb
To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Dutch etsen (“to etch”), from German ätzen (“to etch”), from Old High German azzon (“to cause to bite or feed”), from Proto-Germanic *atjaną, causative of *etaną (“to eat”) (whence also English eat).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ETCH in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 4 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 34, 23 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 105, 2 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 15 days.
First found by a player on Day 34, 23 June 2026.
Built from these letters
ETCH starts with E and ends with H. Sorted, its letters read CEHT - 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 ETCH
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 34
Could you have found ETCH?
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 34 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER