The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
RATEL
Definition of RATEL
noun
Synonym of honey badger.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Afrikaans ratel.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Afrikaans
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
30th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.2%
of traced words share this origin (72)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, RATEL · 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.
RATEL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 6 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 18, 7 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.
First found by a player on Day 18, 7 June 2026.
Built from these letters
RATEL starts with R and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AELRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
5 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 18
Could you have found RATEL?
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 18 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER