The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
THEN
Definition of THEN
adverb
At that time.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English then(ne), than(ne), from Old English þonne, þanne, þænne (“then, at that time”), from Proto-West Germanic *þan, from Proto-Germanic *þan (“at that (time), then”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“demonstrative pronoun, that”). Cognate with Dutch dan (“then”), German dann (“then”), Swedish då (“then”), Icelandic þá (“then”). Doublet of than.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,554)
How it is built
Same root, THEN · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
THEN in OUTLIER
It has fitted 3 boards so far. 47 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 118, 15 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 132, 29 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 31 days.
First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
THEN starts with T and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read EHNT - 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 THEN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found THEN?
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 118 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER