The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
KURTOSIS
Definition of KURTOSIS
noun
A measure of "heaviness of the tails" of a probability distribution, defined as the fourth cumulant divided by the square of the variance of the probability distribution.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Coined by English mathematician, biometrician, and eugenicist Karl Pearson c. 1895 (published 1899 in "On certain Properties of the Hypergeometrical Series, and so on the fitting of such series to Observation Polygons in the Theory of Chance", Phil. Mag.). From Ancient Greek κύρτωσις (kúrtōsis, “a bulging, convexity”), from κυρτός (kurtós, “bulging, convex”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,640)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, KURTOSIS · 1 relative 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.
KURTOSIS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 172, 8 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 140, 7 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
KURTOSIS starts with K and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read IKORSSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once.
Could you have found KURTOSIS?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER