Spelling Bee winning word gets the whole internet Googling what on earth 'marocain' is

A word you didn't know existed yesterday.
 By 
Victoria Ho
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo

You probably didn't know what marocain was yesterday, but thanks to Thursday night's nailbiting National Spelling Bee, it's all over the internet.

Ananya Vinay, a sixth-grader from Fresno, was crowned winner at the 2017 Scripps annual event. After effortlessly dealing with hypapante, gifblaar, and wayzgoose, she finished the night with the winning word: marocain.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: "A ribbed crepe fabric used in women's clothing."

The internet reacted by cheering Vinay, while simultaneously scratching its head over what on earth marocain is.

Vinay looked stunned at the victory. She barely had time to react before getting a big bear hug from her father, who rushed on stage.

One thing's for sure -- get ready for everyone to be talking about marocain tomorrow.

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Victoria Ho

Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band

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