The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HEATHEN
Definition of HEATHEN
adjective
Not adhering to an Abrahamic religion; pagan.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hethen, from Old English hǣþen, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþin, from Proto-Germanic *haiþīnaz (“heathen, pagan”, adjective), equivalent to heath (“heathland”) + -en. Cognate with West Frisian heiden, Dutch heiden, Middle High German heiden, German Heiden, German Heide, Swedish heden, Danish hedensk (from heden + -sk), Icelandic heiðinn. See also Proto-Germanic *haiduz, Old Norse heiðr (honour, bright, moor), Icelandic heiður (honour).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.4%
of traced words share this origin (976)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Old Norse, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HEATHEN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 137, 4 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 137, 4 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HEATHEN starts with H and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AEEHHNT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. H and E appear more than once.
Words that start HEATHE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found HEATHEN?
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 137 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER