The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LIMN
Definition of LIMN
verb
To draw or paint; to delineate.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
LIMN carries 4 further meanings.
transitive verb
To describe or depict by painting or drawing.
transitive verb
To suffuse or highlight with light or color; illuminate.
transitive verb
To describe or portray in words.
To represent by painting or drawing; depict; delineate; hence, to describe vividly or minutely.
Where it comes from
From Middle English limnen, limyne, lymm, lymn, lymne (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), a variant of luminen (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), short form of enluminen (“to shed light on, illuminate; to enlighten; to make bright or clear; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript); to depict, describe; to adorn or embellish with figures of speech or poetry; to make famous, glorious, or illustrious”), from Old French enluminer (“to brighten, light up; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript)”), from Latin illūminō (“to brighten, light up; to adorn; to make conspicuous”), from il- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside’)) + lūminō (“to brighten, illuminate; to reveal”) (from lūmen (“light; (poetic) brightness”) (from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine; to see”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,506)
How it is built
Same root, LIMN · 6 relatives in the game
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
LIMN in a sentence
“I think it is part of Dadd's predilection for double-speak and dangerous puns: "Elimination" contains the word "limn" which is a good word for painting, but also is part of Dadd's habit of decrying painting as pointless and worthless.”
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
LIMN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 94 boards so far. 232 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 161, 28 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 19, 8 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
LIMN starts with L and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ILMN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of LIMN. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Words that start LIMN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found LIMN?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER