The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
JAIL
Definition of JAIL
noun
A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English gayole, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jaiole, from Late Latin caveola, from Latin cavea (“cage”) + -ola (diminutive ending). Doublet of caveola and related to cage. More at cajole. Fully displaced native Middle English quartern (“prison, jail, cell”), from Old English cweartern (“jail, prison”). Partially displaced native Middle English lok, from Old English loc (“enclosure, pen; jail, prison”), whence lock; and Middle English carcern, from Old English carcern, from Latin carcer (“prison, jail”). Compare these Old English words, all meaning “jail”: heaþor, heolstorloca (means also “jail cell”), clūstorloc, dung (also “dungeon”), hlinræced, nirwþ, nīedcleofa, hearmloca, and nearu.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
JAIL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 8 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 114, 11 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
JAIL starts with J and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AIJL - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses J - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start JAIL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found JAIL?
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