The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SPAVIN
Definition of SPAVIN
noun
A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
39th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
0.2%
of traced words share this origin (45)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SPAVIN · 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.
SPAVIN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 29 boards so far. 52 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 25, 14 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 25, 14 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SPAVIN starts with S and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AINPSV - 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.
Also seen on Day 25
Could you have found SPAVIN?
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 25 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER