The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ORANGUTAN
Definition of ORANGUTAN
noun
An arboreal ape, characterised by its shaggy reddish-brown coat and long arms, of the genus Pongo, native to Borneo and Sumatra.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Probably via Dutch orang-oetan, orang-oetang, apparently from Malay orang hutan, orang utan (literally “forest man”), from orang (“person, man”) + hutan (“forest”), although as a term for the animal it is attested only recently (earlier and preferred terms being mawas and mayas). As there is originally no evidence for its usage, except occasionally literally, it must be assumed to have been regional, or a descriptive collocation used to explain the animal to early travellers. Forms in -ng are alterations after the first element, orang. The name orangutan has been used in Old Javanese texts, notably in Rāmāyaṇa and Smaradahana, in the form of uraṅutan and wuraṅutan. Its usage to refer to the apes in these texts (from as early as the 9th century CE) has been seen as a refutation of claims that the name orangutan originates from a European source.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
29th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.3%
of traced words share this origin (235)
branch · 0.4% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ORANGUTAN · 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.
ORANGUTAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 132, 29 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 11 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 132, 29 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ORANGUTAN starts with O and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AAGNNORTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A and N appear more than once.
Could you have found ORANGUTAN?
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 132 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER