The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PUNISH
Definition of PUNISH
verb
To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English punischen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French puniss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of punir, from Latin puniō (“to inflict punishment upon”), from poena (“punishment, penalty”); see pain. Displaced Old English wītnian and (mostly, in this sense) wrecan.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.6%
of traced words share this origin (25,170)
branch · 30.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, PUNISH · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PUNISH in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 21 boards so far. 28 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 41, 30 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 161, 28 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First found by a player on Day 41, 30 June 2026.
Built from these letters
PUNISH starts with P and ends with H. Sorted, its letters read HINPSU - 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 PUNISH
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 41
Could you have found PUNISH?
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 41 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER