The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
NEPOTISM
Definition of NEPOTISM
noun
The favoring of relatives or also personal friends because of their relationship rather than because of their abilities.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from Latin nepōs (“nephew”), a reference to the practice of popes appointing relatives (most often nephews) as cardinals (cardinal-nephew) during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (9,633)
branch · 33.1% 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.
NEPOTISM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 51 boards so far. 208 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 143, 10 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
NEPOTISM starts with N and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read EIMNOPST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start NEPOTI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found NEPOTISM?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER