The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PATHOGEN
Definition of PATHOGEN
noun
An agent that can cause disease, especially an infectious microorganism, such as a bacterium, virus, protozoon or fungus.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From patho- + -gen. Second element ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“lineage”) through Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “birth”)
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,702)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PATHOGEN · 2 relatives 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.
PATHOGEN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 33 boards so far. 51 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 13, 2 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 13, 2 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
PATHOGEN starts with P and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AEGHNOPT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 PATHOG
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found PATHOGEN?
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 13 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER