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

YEAR

/jɪə/4 letters

Definition of YEAR

noun

A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English yeer, yere, from Old English ġēar (“year”), from Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, spring”). Doublet of hora and hour. Cognate with Scots year (“year”), North Frisian djooar, iir, Jaar, jeer, juar, jäär (“year”), Saterland Frisian Jíer (“year”), West Frisian jier (“year”), Bavarian Joahr, Jåar, Jåhr (“year”), Cimbrian djar, jaar (“year”), Dutch jaar (“year”), German Jahr (“year”), Limburgish jaor, Johr, Joër (“year”), Low German Johr, Jåhr (“year”), Luxembourgish Joer (“year”), Mòcheno jor (“year”), Swabian Johr (“year”), Vilamovian jür (“year”), West Flemish joar (“year”), Yiddish יאָר (yor), יאָהר (yohr, “year”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish år (“year”), Faroese and Icelandic ár (“year”), Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 (jēr, “year”).

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

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.

YEAR in OUTLIER

It has fitted 53 boards so far. 16 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 107
Its 53 boards, across 107 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
53
Boards it fitted
2
First board
107
Latest board
8
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 2, 23 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 107, 4 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First found by a player on Day 31, 20 June 2026.

Built from these letters

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

YEAR starts with Y and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AERY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.

Same letters, different word

4 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start YEAR

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found YEAR?

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 2 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER

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The OUTLIER card for YEARDownload image