The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
JAPE
Definition of JAPE
noun
A joke or quip.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English japen (“to deceive, play tricks on; act foolishly, joke; have sex with”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps combining Old French japer (“to bark, howl, scream; chatter, gossip”) with gaber (“to mock, deride”). See also gab, Old Occitan japar, jaupar (“to bark, yelp, yap”), related to Old Saxon galpōn (“to cry loudly, make a noise, brag”) (Low German galpen (“to bark, howl, scream”)), Middle High German gelpfen (“to scream, bark, boast, proclaim”), Old Norse gjálpa (“to yelp”) (dialectal Swedish galpa (“to cry, screech”)). More at yelp, yawp, yap.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old French
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
9th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
2.9%
of traced words share this origin (840)
branch · 15.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, JAPE · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names German, Old Norse, Old Occitan, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
JAPE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 207 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 18, 7 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 142, 9 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First found by a player on Day 18, 7 June 2026.
Built from these letters
JAPE starts with J and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AEJP - 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 JAPE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 18
Could you have found JAPE?
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 18 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER