The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LANCE
Definition of LANCE
noun
A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.5%
of traced words share this origin (24,890)
branch · 30.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, LANCE · 5 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.
LANCE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 21 boards so far. 46 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 10 days.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
LANCE starts with L and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ACELN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start LANCE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found LANCE?
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