The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MATERNAL
Definition of MATERNAL
adjective
Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English maternal, maternall, from Middle French maternel (“maternal”) (modern French maternel (“maternal; native”)), or from its etymon Late Latin māternālis (“maternal”), from Latin māternus (“maternal; related to the mother or her side of the family”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Māternus is derived from māter (“mother”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”)) + -rnus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Italian maternale, materno, Portuguese maternal, materno, Spanish maternal, materno. The noun is derived from the adjective.
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.
MATERNAL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 20 boards so far. 24 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 99, 27 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
MATERNAL starts with M and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AAELMNRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start MATERN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found MATERNAL?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER