The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
TERN
Definition of TERN
noun
Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Via an East Anglian dialect, from some Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, related to Danish terne, Norwegian terne, and Swedish tärna, all from Old Norse þerna (“tern; maidservant”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.
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.
TERN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 17 boards so far. 21 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 44, 3 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 101, 29 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 44, 3 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
TERN starts with T and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ENRT - 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.
Words that start TERN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 44
Could you have found TERN?
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 44 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER