The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHAMAN
Definition of SHAMAN
noun
A traditional faith healer.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān), from Proto-Tungusic *samān. The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- (şa-, “to know”); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門 / 沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
15th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1%
of traced words share this origin (756)
branch · 1.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SHAMAN · 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.
SHAMAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 41 boards so far. 142 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 5, 26 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 156, 23 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 5, 26 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SHAMAN starts with S and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AAHMNS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
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 SHAMAN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 5
Could you have found SHAMAN?
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 5 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER