The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
VERMILION
Definition of VERMILION
noun
A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide, cinnabar.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English vermelioun, vermyloun, vermylon, vermilun, from Old French vermeillon (“vermilion”), from vermeil, from Latin vermiculus (“little worm”), from vermis (“worm”), ultimately in reference to Kermes vermilio, a type of scale insect used to make a crimson dye. Displaced native Old English bōcrēad.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.7%
of traced words share this origin (24,343)
branch · 30.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, VERMILION · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
VERMILION in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 33 boards so far. 66 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 10 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 24, 13 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
VERMILION starts with V and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read EIILMNORV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I appears more than once.
Words that start VERMIL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 24
Could you have found VERMILION?
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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER