The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
VALERIAN
Definition of VALERIAN
noun
A hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Old French valeriane or Medieval Latin valeriāna, a reinterpretation of what is found as German Baldrian after valēre (“to be powerful”) or also the gentilic name Valerius, which is seemingly borrowed in the Dark Age period from the late 6 to early 8 century from Turkic or Proto-Mongolic, when the Pannonian Avars were direct neighbours to the Germans, notably also present in Hungarian bojtorján (“burdock”), ultimately from Proto-Mongolic, reflected as Middle Mongol ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨᠠ (balčirɣan-a, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷ (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix ᠭᠠᠨᠠ (-ɣana), Mongolian балчиргана (balčirgana, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as балчир (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix -гана (-gana). See Ottoman Turkish بالدران (baldıran, “hemlock”) for Turkic cognates.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
50th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
0.1%
of traced words share this origin (15)
branch · 0.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, VALERIAN · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Turkish.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
VALERIAN in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 22 boards so far. 42 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 51, 10 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 139, 6 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 8 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 51, 10 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
VALERIAN starts with V and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AAEILNRV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Also seen on Day 51
Could you have found VALERIAN?
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 51 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER