The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FATHOM
Definition of FATHOM
noun
A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English fathome, fadom, fadme (“unit of length of about six feet; depth of six feet for nautical soundings; (loosely) cubit; ell”) [and other forms], from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“encircling or outstretched arms, bosom, embrace; envelopment; control, grasp, power; fathom (unit of measurement); cubit”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,843)
How it is built
Same root, FATHOM · 7 relatives 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.
FATHOM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 65 boards so far. 191 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 6, 27 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 165, 1 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 6, 27 May 2026.
Built from these letters
FATHOM starts with F and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read AFHMOT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start FATHOM
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found FATHOM?
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 6 - and most players walked straight past it.
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