The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HORNETS
Definition of HORNETS
noun
plural of hornet
noun
Any large wasp of the genus Vespa, having a brown-and-yellow-striped body and the ability to inflict a serious sting.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
HORNETS inherits its ancestry from its root, HORNET.
Line of descent
7 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
47th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.1%
of traced words share this origin (17)
branch · 0.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HORNET · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HORNETS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 18 boards so far. 22 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 35, 24 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 133, 30 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 35, 24 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HORNETS starts with H and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EHNORST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 35
Could you have found HORNETS?
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 35 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER