The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
KERMES
Definition of KERMES
noun
Any of several insects of the genus Kermes.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
First attested ca. 1600, from French kermès, from Medieval Latin cremesinus (compare Italian chermes, Spanish carmes), from Arabic قِرْمِز (qirmiz) (whence also Portuguese quermes, alquermes), from a Persian word meaning “worm-colored” (compare modern Persian قرمز (qermez)), ultimately Proto-Indo-Iranian *kŕ̥miš (“worm”), possibly via borrowing from a Sanskrit formation. Related to carmine and crimson. For the semantic development, compare vermilion from Latin vermis (“worm”) and its cognates.
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.
KERMES in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 13 boards so far. 12 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 37, 26 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 103, 31 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 37, 26 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
KERMES starts with K and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EEKMRS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Words that start KERMES
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 37
Could you have found KERMES?
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 37 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER