The Scripps National Spelling Bee began in 1925. In this list we present some of the most intriguing winning words from over the decades.
Betty Robinson, 1928
"Well-beaten albumen is the key to impressive meringue."
Albumen is the white of an egg. The word comes from albus, Latin for "white."
Ward Randall, 1931
"I'm not French, but I have come dressed as a smart European from the late 1950s (below-the-knee skirt and a foulard) to experience the latest event from Secret Cinema." - Lucy Farmer, More Intelligent Life, May 11, 2011
In French, a foulard is a silk handkerchief (or, nowadays, the controversial headscarf). In English, foulard refers to a lightweight silk, usually with a printed pattern, or an article of clothing—such as a tie, scarf, or handkerchief—made of that material.
John McKinney, 1946
"After their radios failed, the sailors were glad they knew the semaphore system and could signal for help."
Semaphore is "a system of visual signaling by two flags held one in each hand."
Sema comes from the Greek word for "sign" or "signal." In International Scientific Vocabulary, phore means "carrier."
Elizabeth Hess, 1953
"A petite dancer with a strong allegro technique and dazzling smile, Reyes was born to be the perky soubrette, and well she knows it." - Eric Taub, Ballet Magazine, June 2006
The meanings of soubrette include "a coquettish maid or frivolous young woman in comedies" and "a soprano who sings supporting roles in comic opera." The ancestor of the French soubrette meant "coy."
Henry Feldman, 1960
"If hedonic happiness is the happiness of the senses, then eudaemonic happiness is the happiness of the soul." - Craig and Marc Kielburger, Me to We: Finding Happiness in a Material World, 2008
Pronunciation: \yoo-dee-MAH-nik\
Eudaemonic means "producing happiness." The topic of happiness interested Aristotle and other Greeks, who coined eudaimonismos to mean "system of happiness."
Tim Kneale, 1976
"Older adults with narcolepsy have frequent 'sleep attacks' at various times of the day, even if they have had normal amounts of nighttime sleep." - Mario Garrett, signonsandiego.com, May 10, 2011
Narcotics make you sleep, and narcolepsy is characterized by attacks of sleep. The Greek ancestor of narco- means "to benumb"; lepsy means "attack, seizure."
Jacques Bailly, 1980
"To complete his studies, the young Abraham Lincoln famously had no choice but to elucubrate at night in his family's log cabin."
Pronunciation: \ee-LOO-kyuh-brayt\
The Latin elucubrare meant "to compose by lamplight." The discipline required of that activity helped elucubrate develop the sense "to work out or express by studious effort."
Wendy Guey, 1996
"In the 18th and 19th centuries, the fear of accidental vivisepulture, or premature burial, led to the creation of safety devices that enabled the occupant of a grave to ring a bell above the ground if he woke up in his coffin alive."
Pronunciation: \viv-ih-SEP-ul-cher\
The act or practice of burying alive, known as vivisepulture, has a linguistic link to vivisection, dissecting something still alive. The vivi- in both words has an ancestor in the Latin vivere, "to live."
Sai R. Gunturi, 2003
"He has put up a strangely pococurante front throughout this whole ordeal."
This word is a direct borrowing from Italian, where poco curante means "caring little."
Sukanya Roy, 2011
"That hair salon is popular with a cymotrichous clientele."
Cymotrichous means "having wavy hair."
According to Sukanya, the winning speller, "I went through the dictionary once or twice, and I guess some of the words really stuck."
Words to improve your Scrabble game
Take the quiz
Do you know which word is older?
Take the quiz
Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!
Take the quiz
SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!
Play the game
