The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
THORNBACKS
Definition of THORNBACKS
noun
plural of thornback
noun
Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as: The thornback guitarfish (Platyrhinoidis triseriata), a species of ray in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. The thornback ray or thornback skate (Raja clavata), a species of ray in the Atlantic Ocean. The thornback skate (Dentiraja lemprieri), a fish endemic to Australia.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
THORNBACKS inherits its ancestry from its root, THORNBACK.
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
6.2%
of traced words share this origin (5,116)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, THORNBACK · 1 relative in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
THORNBACKS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 144, 11 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 19 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 144, 11 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
THORNBACKS starts with T and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ABCHKNORST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start THORNB
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found THORNBACKS?
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 144 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER