The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MATE
Definition of MATE
noun
A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English mate, a borrowing from Middle Low German mate (“messmate”) (replacing Middle English mett, mette (“table companion, mate, partner”), from Old English ġemetta (“sharer of food, table-guest”)), from Old Saxon gimato, derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + *matjô (from *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete (“food”)). From the same Middle Low German source stems German Low German Maat (“journeyman, companion”), German Maat (“naval non-commissioned officer”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Moat (“friend, buddy, comrade, mate”), Dutch maat (“mate, partner, colleague, friend”). More at Old English ġe-, English co-, English meat. Doublet of maat. Compare typologically Latin compāniō (whence companion) (< con- + panis + -ō), Russian однока́шник (odnokášnik) (< одно- (odno-) + ка́ша (káša) + -ник (-nik)).
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.
MATE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 13 boards so far. 14 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 15, 4 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 15, 4 June 2026.
Built from these letters
MATE starts with M and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AEMT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
4 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start MATE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 15
Could you have found MATE?
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 15 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER