The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
VARICOSE
Definition of VARICOSE
adjective
Abnormally swollen, dilated or knotty.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From varix, via Middle English [Term?] from Latin varix, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wers-. By surface analysis, varic- + -ose. See also Old Church Slavonic врьхъ (vrĭxŭ, “top, peak”), Ancient Greek ἕρμα (hérma, “reef, rock, hill”), Lithuanian viršus (“top”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,656)
How it is built
Same root, VARICOSE · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek.
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.
VARICOSE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 65 boards so far. 269 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First found by a player on Day 19, 8 June 2026.
Built from these letters
VARICOSE starts with V and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ACEIORSV - 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 VARICO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found VARICOSE?
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 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER