The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
INSECT
Definition of INSECT
noun
An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Middle French insecte, from Latin īnsectum, from īnsectus (“cut into, cut up, with a notched or divided body”), from perfect passive participle of īnsecō (“to cut into, to cut up”), from in- + secō (“to cut”), from the notion that the insect's body is "cut into" three sections (head, thorax, abdomen). Calque of Ancient Greek ἔντομον (éntomon, “insect”), from ἔντομος (éntomos, “cut into pieces”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.2%
of traced words share this origin (9,601)
branch · 12.2% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, INSECT · 3 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.
INSECT in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 16 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 158, 25 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 44, 3 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
INSECT starts with I and ends with T. Sorted, its letters read CEINST - 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.
Words that start INSECT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found INSECT?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER