The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

VAIR

/ˈvɛə/4 letters

Definition of VAIR

noun

A type of fur from a squirrel with a grey back and white belly, much used on garments in the Middle Ages.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Other senses

VAIR carries 4 further meanings.

  1. noun

    A fur, probably squirrel, much used in medieval times to line and trim robes.

  2. noun

    A representation of fur.

  3. noun

    A kind of fur in use in the middle ages.

  4. noun

    In heraldry, one of the furs. See tincture, 2.

Where it comes from

From Middle English veir, veire, from Old French vair, veir, from the accusative singular masculine form of Latin varius (“variegated”). Not related to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“squirrel”).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Word DNA

Line of descent

  1. Proto-Indo-European
  2. Latin
  3. Old French
  4. Middle English
  5. English

4 recorded generations before English.

Proto-Indo-European

Deepest traced root

2nd

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

14.3%

of traced words share this origin (11,343)

How it is built

noun1 syllable

Same root, VAIR · 2 relatives in the game

Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

VAIR in a sentence

“But me luvz teh rain vair much so I don't mind if it doesn't!”

Archive 2009-04-01, 2009

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

VAIR in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 48 boards so far. 66 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 160
Its 48 boards, across 160 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
48
Boards found on
13
First board
160
Latest board
15
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 13, 2 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 160, 27 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First found by a player on Day 13, 2 June 2026.

Built from these letters

VAIR
4
Letters
2
Vowels
2
Consonants
4
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
2
Longest vowel run

VAIR starts with V and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AIRV - 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 VAIR

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

VAIREVAIRSVAIRYVAIRIERVAIRIEST

Could you have found VAIR?

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 13 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

from The Century Dictionary.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

Senses and citation via Wordnik.