The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MESCAL
Definition of MESCAL
noun
A Mexican alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented juice of the agave.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Mexican Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl or Classical Nahuatl mexcalli (“intoxicating drink made from fermented agave juice”), perhaps from metl (“maguey (agave)”) + ixcalli (“stew”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
35th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.2%
of traced words share this origin (59)
branch · 0.2% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MESCAL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 18 boards so far. 37 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 47, 6 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 47, 6 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MESCAL starts with M and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ACELMS - 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 MESCAL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 47
Could you have found MESCAL?
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 47 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER