The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HELICOPTER
Definition of HELICOPTER
noun
An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and typically having a smaller set of blades on its tail to stabilize the aircraft.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French hélicoptère, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopteron. By surface analysis, helico- + -pter. The dragonfly sense is from a dragonfly's ability to hover and fly in any direction, like the flying machine.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- French
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.2%
of traced words share this origin (9,569)
branch · 12.2% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HELICOPT · 6 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.
HELICOPTER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 35 boards so far. 70 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First found by a player on Day 28, 17 June 2026.
Built from these letters
HELICOPTER starts with H and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read CEEHILOPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Words that start HELICO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found HELICOPTER?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER