The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MELANCHOLIA
Definition of MELANCHOLIA
noun
Deep sadness or gloom; melancholy
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Late Latin melancholia, which was in turn borrowed from the Ancient Greek medical term μελαγχολία (melankholía, “blackness of the bile”) (from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”)), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency. Doublet of melancholy.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,337)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, MELANCHOLIA · 1 relative in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MELANCHOLIA in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far. 11 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 110, 7 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 14 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 110, 7 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MELANCHOLIA starts with M and ends with A. Sorted, its letters read AACEHILLMNO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. L and A appear more than once.
Words that start MELANCH
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found MELANCHOLIA?
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 110 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER