The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LICHENS
Definition of LICHENS
noun
plural of lichen
noun
Any of many symbiotic organisms, being associations of algae and fungi, often found as white or yellow-to-blue–green patches on rocks, old walls, etc.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
LICHENS inherits its ancestry from its root, LICHEN.
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.2%
of traced words share this origin (9,700)
branch · 12.2% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, LICHEN · 9 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.
LICHENS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 53 boards so far. 97 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
LICHENS starts with L and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CEHILNS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start LICHEN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found LICHENS?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER