The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
TAPER
Definition of TAPER
noun
A slender wax candle.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”); If so, it is a doublet of papyrus; but compare Old French taper (“taper, slender candle or light”). Alternatively, of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid. First attested before the 12th c.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
TAPER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 15 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 95, 23 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
TAPER starts with T and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AEPRT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
7 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start TAPER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found TAPER?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER