The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SUMAC
Definition of SUMAC
noun
Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Rhus and certain other genera in Anacardiaceae. particularly, one of species Rhus coriaria (tanner's sumac)
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English sumac, asimac, simak, sumak, symak (“portions of the shrub Rhus coriaria, chiefly used for medicinal purposes”), from Anglo-Norman sumak, symak, and Old French sumac, or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin sumach, sumac, from Arabic سُمَّاق (summāq), from Classical Syriac ܣܘܡܩܐ (summāqā, “red; sumac”). The English word is cognate with Italian sommaco, sommacco, Occitan simac, Portuguese sumagre, Spanish zumaque. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
12th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
1.3%
of traced words share this origin (398)
branch · 2% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SUMAC · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SUMAC in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 47 boards so far. 183 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 22, 11 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 22, 11 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SUMAC starts with S and ends with C. Sorted, its letters read ACMSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 22
Could you have found SUMAC?
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 22 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER