The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
EXPLAIN
Definition of EXPLAIN
verb
To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanō (“to flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + planō (“to flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English reċċan.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (9,723)
branch · 33.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, EXPLAIN · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
EXPLAIN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 25 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 32, 21 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 144, 11 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First found by a player on Day 32, 21 June 2026.
Built from these letters
EXPLAIN starts with E and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AEILNPX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start EXPLAI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 32
Could you have found EXPLAIN?
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 32 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER