The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
POSTERN
Definition of POSTERN
noun
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious. A hidden or secret exit or tunnel of a fortification such as a castle, city wall, or fort. Any way in or out of a place, especially a hidden one; an entrance or exit. An underground passage communicating between a main ditch and a parade, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English postern, posterne (“side door or gate; small entranceway; hidden or secret door or passage”), from Late Latin posterna, and from its likely etymon Anglo-Norman posterne and Old French posterne (“hidden exit from a fortified building; back door; small door”) (modern French poterne), a variant of posterle (“back door or passage”) (although this is attested later), possibly also influenced by Latin externus (“external, outward”) and internus (“internal, inward”). Posterle is from Late Latin posterla, posterula (“(small) back door, gate, or way”), from Latin posterus (“coming after, later, next”) (from post (“after; behind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards; at, by”)) + -ula (suffix denoting an instrument). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
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.
POSTERN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 14 boards so far. 13 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 29, 18 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 97, 25 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 29, 18 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
POSTERN starts with P and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ENOPRST - 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 POSTER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 29
Could you have found POSTERN?
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 29 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER