The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ZINC
Definition of ZINC
noun
A chemical element (symbol Zn) with an atomic number of 30, a blue-silvery metal that is slightly brittle at room temperature and tarnishes slightly in moist air.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from German Zink, related to Zinke (“point, prong”), from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko (“prong, tine”), allied to zint (“a jag, point”), from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth, projection”). Cognate with Old English tind (“tine, prong”), Middle Low German tinde, Icelandic tindur (“spike, tooth of a rake or harrow, pinnacle, peak, battlement”). See also Dutch tinne (“battlement”), German Zinne (“pinnacle, battlement”), Danish tinde (“pinnacle, battlement”), Swedish tinne (“tooth of a rake”), More at tine. Doublet of zincum.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ZINC in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 7 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 69, 28 July 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 53 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 11, 31 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
ZINC starts with Z and ends with C. Sorted, its letters read CINZ - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses Z - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start ZINC
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found ZINC?
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 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER