This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee is now underway, and Wednesday morning's action provided our annual reminder of just how much smarter some kids are than the rest of us.
The @ScrippsBee Twitter account, meanwhile, is bringing this year's competition to a smartphone near you by live-tweeting the event's highs and lows. Word-by-word updates keep the rest of us in the loop about the challenges participants must meet to advance in the bee. The bee's field was trimmed from 281 contestants to just 42 on Wednesday. On Thursday, the remaining survivors will compete before a nationally televised ESPN audience.
Here are 10 examples of especially tricky words from Wednesday's Scripps National Spelling Bee round, complete with their Merriam-Webster definitions (we can't even begin to pronounce half these words). Which is your favorite? Tell us in the comments.
1.
#Speller242 Syamantak Payra (TX) spells 'geitonogamy' (pollination by a flower on the same plant) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Geitonogamy; noun; "pollination of one flower by another growing on the same plant."
2.
#Speller253 Manav Thadani (Virgin Islands) spells 'akaryote' correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Akaryote; noun; "a cell without a nucleus."
3.
#Speller254 Hannah Faulconer (UT) spells 'coadjutor' (an assistant) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Coadjutor; noun; "a bishop assisting a diocesan bishop and often having the right of succession."
4.
#Speller261 Jessica Ditton (VA) spells 'akropodion' (the furthest back of the heel) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Akropodion; noun; "the most prominent point on the back of the heel."
5.
#Speller264 Jensen Schram (VA) spells 'hibernaculum' (a winter shelter) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Hibernaculum; noun; "a shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal (as an insect or reptile)."
6.
#Speller268 Shaley Martin spells 'truttaceous' correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Truttaceous; adjective; "of, relating to, or resembling a trout."
7.
#Speller271 Christopher Shoemaker (VA) spells 'gadarene' (rushing forward) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Gadarene; adjective; "acting or done with excessive or careless speed."
8.
#Speller275 Lauren Coccari (WV) spells 'fuguist' correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Fuguist; noun; (player of) "a musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices and contrapuntally developed in a continuous interweaving of the voice parts."
9.
#Speller278 Lillian Bischof (WV) spells 'synusia' correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Synusia; noun; "a structural unit of a major ecological community characterized by relative uniformity of life-form or of height and usu. constituting a particular stratum of that community."
10.
#Speller279 Aisha Khan (WI) spells 'corrigenda' (lists of errors with corrections) correctly in Round 3 #spellingbee— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2013
Corrigenda; noun; "an error in a printed work discovered after printing and shown with its correction on a separate sheet."