The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
METHANOL
Definition of METHANOL
noun
The simplest aliphatic alcohol, CH3OH; a colourless, toxic, inflammable liquid, used as a solvent, antifreeze, in the chemical industry, and in the preparation of methylated spirit.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From methane + -ol. French chemists Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugene Peligot, after determining methanol's chemical structure, introduced "methylene" from the Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu, “wine”) + ὕλη (húlē, “wood, material”) with the intention of highlighting its origins, "alcohol made from wood (substance)".
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- French
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,724)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, METHANOL · 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.
METHANOL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 36 boards so far. 44 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 11, 31 May 2026.
Built from these letters
METHANOL starts with M and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AEHLMNOT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start METHAN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found METHANOL?
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 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER