The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MELANISM
Definition of MELANISM
noun
Congenital abundance or excess of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair, feathers and/or eyes, more than is typical for the species.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From French mélanisme; by surface analysis, melan- + -ism.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- French
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
5.3%
of traced words share this origin (4,431)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, MELANISM · 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.
MELANISM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 161, 28 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 167, 3 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 161, 28 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MELANISM starts with M and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read AEILMMNS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. M appears more than once.
Words that start MELANI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found MELANISM?
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 161 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER