The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SELDOM
Definition of SELDOM
adverb
Infrequently, rarely.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian Bokmål sjelden, Norwegian Nynorsk sjeldan, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
6th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
4.7%
of traced words share this origin (3,691)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SELDOM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 43 boards so far. 70 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 12, 1 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 12, 1 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SELDOM starts with S and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read DELMOS - 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 SELDOM
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 12
Could you have found SELDOM?
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 12 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER