The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
EXCAVATION
Definition of EXCAVATION
noun
The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Latin excavātiō (“a hollowing out”), from excavō (“to hollow out”), from ex + cavō (“to hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“vault, hole”). Equivalent to excavate + -ion.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Proto-Indo-European
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,595)
How it is built
Same root, EXCAVATION · 1 relative in the game
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
EXCAVATION in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 11 boards so far. 50 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 73, 1 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 129, 26 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 35 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 73, 1 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
EXCAVATION starts with E and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AACEINOTVX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start EXCAVA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found EXCAVATION?
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 73 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER