Recreant. Myoglobin. Anadiplosis. Sciuromorph. And that's just for starters this year.
The 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee features 284 young orthographers ranging in age from 6 to 14 – 144 boys and 141 girls. They're from all 50 states (and the District of Columbia, where the contest is being held) and from as far away as South Korea, Ghana and Jamaica.
This year features the first-ever first-grader, Akash Vukoti of San Angelo, Texas – aka Speller 238, who got knocked out in Round 3 when up against "bacteriolytic." His first spelling bee was at age 2 1/2 and he says his favorite word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – which he can totally spell.
What trips up a lot of the spellers? "The dreaded schwa," as an ESPN color commentator said Thursday – that upside-down "e" that is pronounced "uh" but can be spelled with any vowel: A, E, I, O, U ... and sometimes Y.
You can watch the 2016 Bee live online via ESPN here.
Without further ado, here are all the National Spelling Bee winners and their winning words, all the way back to "gladiolus" in 1925.
2015
scherenschnitte
Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan.
nunatak
Gokul Venkatachalam of St. Louis, Mo.
2014
feuilleton
Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas
stichomythia
Sriram Hathwar of Corning, New York
2013
knaidel
Arvind Mahankali of New York, N.Y.
2012
guetapens
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, Calif.
2011
cymotrichous
Sukanya Roy of Wilkes-Barre, Penn.
2010
stromuhr
Anamika Veeramani of Cleveland, Ohio
2009
Laodicean
Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan.
2008
guerdon
of Lafayette, Ind.
2007
serrefine
Evan M. O'Dorney of Walnut Creek, Calif.
2006
Ursprache
Kerry Close of Asbury Park, N.J.
2005
appoggiatura
Anurag Kashyap of San Diego, Calif.
2004
autochthonous
David Tidmarsh of South Bend, Ind.
2003
pococurante
Sai R. Gunturi of Dallas, Texas
2002
prospicience
Pratyush Buddiga of Denver, Colo.
2001
succedaneum
Sean Conley of Aitkin, Minn.
2000
demarche
George Abraham Thampy of St. Louis, Mo.
1999
logorrhea
Nupur Lala of Tampa, Fla.
1998
chiaroscurist
Jody-Anne Maxwell of Kingston, Jamaica
1997
euonym
Rebecca Sealfon of New York, N.Y.
1996
vivisepulture
Wendy Guey of West Palm Beach, Fla.
1995
xanthosis
Justin Tyler Carroll of Memphis, Tenn.
1994
antediluvian
Ned G. Andrews of Knoxville, Tenn.
1993
kamikaze
Geoff Hooper of Memphis, Tenn.
1992
lyceum
Amanda Goad of Richmond, Va.
1991
antipyretic
Joanne Lagatta of Madison, Wis.
1990
fibranne
Amy Marie Dimak of Seattle, Wash.
1989
spoliator
Scott Isaacs of Denver, Colo.
1988
elegiacal
Rageshree Ramachandran of Sacramento, Calif.
1987
staphylococci
Stephanie Petit of Pittsburgh, Penn.
1986
odontalgia
Jon Pennington of Harrisburg, Penn.
1985
milieu
Balu Natarajan of Chicago, Ill.
1984
luge
Daniel Greenblatt of Leesburg, Va.
1983
Purim
Blake Giddens of El Paso, Texas
1982
psoriasis
Molly Dieveney of Denver, Colo.
1981
sarcophagus
Paige Pipkin of El Paso, Texas
1980
elucubrate
Jacques Bailly of Denver, Colo.
1979
maculature
Katie Kerwin of Denver, Colo.
1978
deification
Peg McCarthy of Topeka, Kan.
1977
cambist
John Paola of Pittsburgh, Penn.
1976
narcolepsy
Tim Kneale of Syracuse, New York
1975
incisor
Hugh Tosteson of San Juan, Puerto Rico
1974
hydrophyte
Julie Ann Junkin of Birmingham, Ala.
1973
vouchsafe
Barrie Trinkle of Fort Worth, Texas
1972
macerate
Robin Kral of Lubbock, Texas
1971
shalloon
Jonathan Knisely of Philadelphia, Penn.
1970
croissant
Libby Childress of Winston-Salem, N.C.
1969
interlocutory
Susan Yoachum of Dallas, Texas
1968
abalone
Robert L. Walters of Topeka, Kan.
1967
Chihuahua
Jennifer Reinke of Omaha, Neb.
1966
ratoon
Robert A. Wake of Houston, Texas
1965
eczema
Michael Kerpan Jr. of Tulsa, Okla.
1964
sycophant
William Kerek of Akron, Ohio
1963
equipage
Glen Van Slyke III of Knoxville, Tenn.
1962
esquamulose
Nettie Crawford of El Paso, Texas, and Michael Day of St. Louis, Mo.
1961
smaragdine
John Capehart of Tulsa, Okla.
1960
eudaemonic
Henry Feldman of Knoxville, Tenn.
1959
catamaran
Joel Montgomery of Denver, Colo.
1958
syllepsis
Jolitta Schlehuber of Topeka, Kansas
1957
schappe
Sandra Owen of Canton, Ohio, and Dana Bennett of Denver, Colo.
1956
condominium
Melody Sachko of Pittsburgh, Penn.
1955
crustaceology
Sandra Sloss of St. Louis, Mo.
1954
transept
William Cashore of Norristown, Penn.
1953
soubrette
Elizabeth Hess of Phoenix, Ariz.
1952
vignette
Doris Ann Hall of Winston-Salem, N.C.
1951
insouciant
Irving Belz of Memphis, Tenn.
1950
meticulosity
Diana Reynard of Cleveland, Ohio, and Colquitt Dean of Atlanta, Ga.
1949
dulcimer
Kim Calvin of Canton, Ohio
1948
psychiatry
Jean Chappelear of Akron, Ohio
1947
chlorophyll
Mattie Lou Pollard of Atlanta, Ga.
1946
semaphore
John McKinney of Des Moines, Iowa
1942
sacrilegious
Richard Earnhart of El Paso, Texas
1941
initials
Louis Edward Sissman of Detroit, Mich.
1940
therapy
Laurel Kuykendall of Knoxville, Tenn.
1939
canonical
Elizabeth Ann Rice of Worcester, Mass.
1938
sanitarium
Marian Richardson of Louisville, Ky.
1937
promiscuous
Waneeta Beckley, of Louisville, Ky.
1936
interning
Jean Trowbridge of Des Moines, Iowa
1935
intelligible
Clara Mohler of Akron, Ohio
1934
deteriorating
Sarah Wilson of Portland, Maine
1933
torsion
Alma Roach of Akron, Ohio
1932
knack
Dorothy Greenwald of Des Moines, Iowa
1931
foulard
Ward Randall of White Hall, Ill.
1930
fracas
Helen Jensen of Des Moines, Iowa
1929
asceticism
Virginia Hogan of Omaha, Neb.
1928
albumen
Betty Robinson of South Bend, Ind.
1927
luxuriance
Dean Lucas of Akron, Ohio
1926
cerise
Pauline Bell of Louisville, Ky.
1925
gladiolus
Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, Ky.
