The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
TANTALUS
Definition of TANTALUS
noun
A stork of the genus Mycteria (formerly Tantalus), especially the American wood stork, Mycteria americana.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Latin Tantalus, from Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos, “Tantalus”), a Phrygian king in Greek mythology who was condemned to stand in a pool of water which receded every time he tried to drink, and with overhanging branches of fruit which pulled back whenever he tried to eat. Doublet of Tantalus.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,104)
branch · 12.4% 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.
TANTALUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 138, 5 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 152, 19 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 12 days.
First found by a player on Day 138, 5 October 2026.
Built from these letters
TANTALUS starts with T and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read AALNSTTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. T and A appear 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 TANTAL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found TANTALUS?
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 138 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER