The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
RIPEN
Definition of RIPEN
verb
Of grain, fruit, flowers, etc., to grow ripe; to become mature.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English *ripenen, extended form of ripen, from Old English rīpian. In the modern form, equivalent to ripe + -en (inchoative and factitive suffix). As in several other verbs, the alteration seems to have occurred during the time when the infinitive and plural ending -en was in the process of being lost (and was thus open to reinterpretation). The earliest attestation is deverbal Middle English ripening (“causing ripeness, ripening”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (2,864)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, RIPEN · 4 relatives 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.
RIPEN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 17 boards so far. 24 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 25, 14 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 147, 14 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 11 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 25, 14 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
RIPEN starts with R and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read EINPR - 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 RIPEN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 25
Could you have found RIPEN?
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 25 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER