The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PERTAIN
Definition of PERTAIN
verb
To belong to or be connected as a part, adjunct, attribute, or accessory.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English pertenen, from Old French partenir, pertenir (modern French appartenir), in turn from Latin pertineō, pertinēre.
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%
of traced words share this origin (9,478)
branch · 33% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PERTAIN · 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.
PERTAIN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 38, 27 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 38, 27 June 2026.
Built from these letters
PERTAIN starts with P and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AEINPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start PERTAI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 38
Could you have found PERTAIN?
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 38 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER