The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MANTIS
Definition of MANTIS
noun
Any of various large insects of the order Mantodea that catch insects or other small animals with their powerful forelegs.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From New Latin mantis, from Ancient Greek μάντις (mántis, “soothsayer”). Distant doublet of mind via Proto-Indo-European *méntis. Noncognate with mantissa.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,843)
How it is built
Same root, MANTI · 5 relatives in the game
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MANTIS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 45 boards so far. 64 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 167, 3 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
MANTIS starts with M and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AIMNST - 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 MANTIS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 26
Could you have found MANTIS?
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 26 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER