The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HARDBACK
Definition of HARDBACK
noun
A book with a solid binding.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From hard + back, formed in analogy to earlier paperback.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HARDBACK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 84, 12 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 36 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 84, 12 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HARDBACK starts with H and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read AABCDHKR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start HARDBA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HARDBACK?
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 84 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER