The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SPHENOID
Definition of SPHENOID
adjective
Having a wedge shape.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
SPHENOID carries 4 further meanings.
noun
The sphenoid bone.
adjective
Wedge-shaped.
adjective
Of or relating to the sphenoid bone.
noun
By some authors the term is limited to a form having two faces only, which meet in a wedge-shaped edge. The combination of two complementary forms of this type is then called a bisphenoid. A tetragonal scalenohedron, a form having eight similar triangular faces arranged in symmetrical pairs, has been called a disphenoid.
Where it comes from
From New Latin sphenoides, from Ancient Greek σφηνοειδής (sphēnoeidḗs, “wedge-shaped”), from σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-form, -like”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,770)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SPHENOID in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 55 boards so far. 86 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
SPHENOID starts with S and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read DEHINOPS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of SPHENOID. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SPHENO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 26
Could you have found SPHENOID?
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 26 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER