The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HYENA
Definition of HYENA
noun
Any of the medium-sized to large feliform carnivores of the family Hyaenidae, native to Africa and Asia and noted for the sound similar to laughter which they can make if excited.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English hiena, variant of hyene, from Old French hiene, from Medieval Latin hyēna, from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina). Displaced native Old English nihtgenġe (literally “night walker”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,104)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, HYENA · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HYENA in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 35 boards so far. 53 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 10, 30 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 164, 31 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 10, 30 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HYENA starts with H and ends with A. Sorted, its letters read AEHNY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 10
Could you have found HYENA?
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 10 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER