The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HALCYON
Definition of HALCYON
noun
A kingfisher whose nesting by the sea was said, in classical mythology, to cause the Gods to restrain the wind and waves. The dead body of such a bird, said in Tudor times to act as a weather vane when hung from a beam.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English Alceoun, from Latin halcyōn, alcyōn (“kingfisher”), from Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,094)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HALCYON · 1 relative 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.
HALCYON in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 82 boards so far. 485 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 14, 3 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 14, 3 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HALCYON starts with H and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACHLNOY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start HALCYO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 14
Could you have found HALCYON?
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 14 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER