The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PTARMIGAN
Definition of PTARMIGAN
noun
Any of three species of small grouse in the genus Lagopus found in subarctic tundra areas of North America and Eurasia.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Scottish Gaelic tarmachan, of unknown origin. The pt- comes from a mistaken belief in a Greek origin, as if related to ptero- (“wing”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Scottish Gaelic
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
38th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.2%
of traced words share this origin (49)
branch · 0.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PTARMIGAN · 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.
PTARMIGAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 45 boards so far. 146 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
PTARMIGAN starts with P and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AAGIMNPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start PTARMI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found PTARMIGAN?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER