The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MALA
Definition of MALA
noun
A single lobe of an insect's maxilla. The grinding surface of an insect's mandible. The third segment of a mandible of some myriapods.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Learned borrowing from Latin māla (“the cheekbone, jaw”).
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.
MALA in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 8 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 101, 29 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 20 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MALA starts with M and ends with A. Sorted, its letters read AALM - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start MALA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found MALA?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER