The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HETEROSCIAN
Definition of HETEROSCIAN
noun
A person or object that is located in the temperate zones (i.e., between the polar regions and the tropics), whose shadow thus does not change its north-south direction over the course of the year.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Ancient Greek ἑτερόσκιος (heteróskios) other + shadow: compare French hétéroscien. So called because at noon the shadows always fall in opposite directions (the one northward, the other southward).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- French
- Ancient Greek
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
7.2%
of traced words share this origin (2,061)
branch · 15.4% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HETEROSCIAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 34, 23 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 141, 8 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 141, 8 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HETEROSCIAN starts with H and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACEEHINORST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Words that start HETEROS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 34
Could you have found HETEROSCIAN?
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 34 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER