The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MERIT
Definition of MERIT
noun
A claim to commendation or a reward.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.4%
of traced words share this origin (11,201)
How it is built
Same root, MERIT · 7 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Old Occitan.
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.
MERIT in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 23 boards so far. 30 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 155, 22 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
MERIT starts with M and ends with T. Sorted, its letters read EIMRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
5 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start MERIT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found MERIT?
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