The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MYSTERY
Definition of MYSTERY
noun
Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English mysterie, from Anglo-Norman misterie (Old French mistere), from Latin mysterium, from Ancient Greek μυστήριον (mustḗrion, “a mystery, a secret, a secret rite”), from μύστης (mústēs, “initiated one”), from μυέω (muéō, “to initiate”), from μύω (múō, “to shut”). Displaced native Old English ġerȳne.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.3%
of traced words share this origin (10,543)
branch · 12.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, MYSTERY · 5 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English, Old French.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MYSTERY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 167, 3 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 167, 3 November 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MYSTERY starts with M and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read EMRSTYY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. Y appears more than once.
Words that start MYSTER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found MYSTERY?
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 167 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER