The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHAMUS
Definition of SHAMUS
noun
A private detective; originally, a policeman or police detective.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Said to be from the Irish name Séamus, on account of many American police officers being of Irish descent.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Irish
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
23rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.4%
of traced words share this origin (330)
branch · 0.8% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SHAMU · 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.
SHAMUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 16 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 140, 7 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SHAMUS starts with S and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AHMSSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S 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 SHAMUS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SHAMUS?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER