The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
FUSTY
Definition of FUSTY
adjective
Moldy or musty.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
FUSTY carries 4 further meanings.
adjective
Smelling of mildew or decay; musty.
adjective
Old-fashioned; antique.
Moldy; musty; ill-smelling; rank; rancid.
Moping.
Where it comes from
From Middle English fusty, equivalent to fust + -y. Compare Scots foosty.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.6%
of traced words share this origin (2,235)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Scots.
FUSTY in a sentence
“The stem snapped in half years ago, and its case is worn, but it still exudes a kind of fusty dignity.”
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
FUSTY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 72 boards so far. 301 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 28, 17 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 28, 17 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
FUSTY starts with F and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read FSTUY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of FUSTY. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 28
Could you have found FUSTY?
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 28 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER