The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SOUTHERN
Definition of SOUTHERN
adjective
Of, facing, situated in, or related to the south.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English southerne, sothern, sutherne, from Old English sūþerne (“southern, southerly, coming from the south; of southern make”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrōnijaz (“southern”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂un-, *sh₂wen-, r/n-stem alternation of *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognate with Scots southron, sudron (“southern”), Old Frisian sūthern, sūdern (“southern”), Middle Low German sūdern (“southern”), Middle High German sundern (“southern”), Icelandic suðrænn (“southern, tropical”). By surface analysis, south + -ern.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,843)
How it is built
Same root, SOUTHERN · 6 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Icelandic, Middle Low German, Scots.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SOUTHERN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 47 boards so far. 140 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 168, 4 November 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 16, 5 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SOUTHERN starts with S and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read EHNORSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start SOUTHE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found SOUTHERN?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER