The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

OXEN

/ˈɑksən/4 letters

Definition of OXEN

noun

plural of ox

OX

noun

An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English oxen, from Old English oxan, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsan, from Proto-Germanic *uhsniz, nominative and accusative plural of *uhsô (“ox”), equivalent to ox + -en (plural ending).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Word DNA

Line of descent

  1. Proto-Germanic
  2. Old English
  3. Middle English
  4. English

3 recorded generations before English.

Proto-Germanic

Deepest traced root

6th

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

4.7%

of traced words share this origin (3,691)

Germanic

branch · 22.6% of traced words

How it is built

noun2 syllablescompound-en

Every Proto-Germanic word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

OXEN in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 27 boards so far. 217 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 157
Its 27 boards, across 157 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
27
Boards found on
32
First board
157
Latest board
33
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 32, 21 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 157, 24 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First ever to find it

dusttyshef

on Day 32, 21 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

OXEN
4
Letters
2
Vowels
2
Consonants
4
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

OXEN starts with O and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ENOX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.

Same letters, different word

One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Could you have found OXEN?

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 32 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER