The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
NUCLEUS
Definition of NUCLEUS
noun
The core, central part of something, around which other elements are assembled.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Learned borrowing from Latin nucleus (“kernel, core”). The earliest uses refer to the head of a comet and the kernel of a seed, both recorded in Lexicon Technicum in 1704. The sense in atomic physics was coined by British scientist Michael Faraday in 1844 in a theoretical meaning.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
NUCLEUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 19 boards so far. 60 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 101, 29 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 11, 31 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
NUCLEUS starts with N and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CELNSUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. U appears more than once.
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 NUCLEU
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found NUCLEUS?
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