The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SCATHEFUL
Definition of SCATHEFUL
adjective
Causing harm or mischief; destructive, injurious.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English *scatheful (attested in derivative unnskaþefull), from Old English sceaþful (“hurtful”), equivalent to scathe + -ful. Cognate with Scots scathfull, scaithful (“harmful, hurtful, injurious, damaging”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
4.2%
of traced words share this origin (1,217)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Scots.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SCATHEFUL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 7 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 54, 13 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 54, 13 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
SCATHEFUL starts with S and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ACEFHLSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start SCATHE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 54
Could you have found SCATHEFUL?
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 54 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER