The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PROTO
Definition of PROTO
adjective
Clipping of prototypical; preceding the proper beginning of something.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From the prefix proto-.
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.
PROTO in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 10 boards so far. 15 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 48, 7 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 116, 13 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First found by a player on Day 48, 7 July 2026.
Built from these letters
PROTO starts with P and ends with O. Sorted, its letters read OOPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start PROTO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 48
Could you have found PROTO?
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 48 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER