While the point of the Bee is to spell the words, not define them, half of the fun for the viewer is to get a taste of some of the more arcane elements of language.
Who could forget 2013 champion Arvind Mahankali’s winning word, “knaidel”?
The 13-year-old from Queens correctly spelled the German-derived word, meaning a kind of Jewish dumpling, stunning even himself.
We went back through the history of Spelling Bee winners to find the coolest words that won a kid a trophy.
Ordered sequentially by year:
2009: Laodician (adj.) - lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics
Spelled by Kavya Shivashankar.
Spelled by David Tidmarsh
2002: prospicience (noun) - the act of looking forward, foresight
Spelled by Pratyush Buddiga
1999: logorrhea (adj.) - excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness
Spelled by Nupur Lala
1997: euonym (noun) - a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named
Spelled by Rebecca Sealfon
1996: vivisepulture (noun) – the act or practice of burying alive
Spelled by Wendy Guey
1989: spoliator (noun) - One who plunders, pillages, despoils, or robs
Spelled by Scott Isaacs
1980: elucubrate (verb)- to solve, write or compose by working studiously at night.
Spelled by Jacques Bailly
1962: esquamulose (adj.) - Not covered in scales, or of scale like objects, a smooth skin
Spelled by Nettie Crawford and Michael Day
1961: smaragdine (adj.) Of or relating to emeralds, having the color of emeralds.
Spelled by John Capehart
1959: eudaemonic (adj.) - producing happiness, based on the idea of happiness as the proper end of conduct
Spelled by Henry Feldman
1951: insouciant (adj.) - lighthearted unconcern, nonchalance
Spelled by Irving Belz
SEE ALSO: 25 Things We Wish Someone Had Told Us At Graduation
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12 Insanely Hard-To-Spell Words That Won Past Spelling Bees
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