The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HACKBUTS
Definition of HACKBUTS
noun
plural of hackbut
HARQUEBUS · via arquebus
noun
An obsolete matchlock firearm.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
HACKBUTS inherits its ancestry from its root, HARQUEBUS.
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,718)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HARQUEBUS · 8 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HACKBUTS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 97, 25 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 133, 30 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 25 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 97, 25 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HACKBUTS starts with H and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ABCHKSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start HACKBU
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HACKBUTS?
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 97 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER