The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PLAY
Definition of PLAY
verb
To act in a manner such that one has fun; to engage in activities expressly for the purpose of recreation or entertainment.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English pleyen (verb) and Middle English pleye (noun), from Old English plegian and plegan, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *plegōn (“to engage, move”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Middle Dutch pleyen ("to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad"; compare Modern Dutch pleien (“to play a particular children's game”)), Dutch plegen (“to commit, bedrive, practice”), German pflegen (“to care for, be concerned with, attend to, tend”). Related also to Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight, pledge. The noun is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, plega, plæġa (“play, quick motion, movement, exercise; (athletic) sport, game; festivity, drama; battle; gear for games, an implement for a game; clapping with the hands, applause”), deverbative of plegian (“to play”); see above.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PLAY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 26 boards so far. 45 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 10, 30 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 116, 13 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
PLAY starts with P and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ALPY - 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 PLAY
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 10
Could you have found PLAY?
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 10 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER