The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PHENOL
Definition of PHENOL
noun
A caustic, poisonous, white crystalline compound, C6H5OH, derived from benzene and used in resins, plastics, and pharmaceuticals and in dilute form as a disinfectant and antiseptic; once called carbolic acid
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From French phène, from Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to clear”), as it was used for illumination, name given by Auguste Laurente in 1836. By surface analysis, pheno- + -ol.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- French
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,617)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PHENOL · 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.
PHENOL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 61 boards so far. 158 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 144, 11 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
PHENOL starts with P and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read EHLNOP - 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 PHENOL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found PHENOL?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER