Christopher Serrao, speller 427 and a New Jersey seventh grader, got the word "pervenche."
Christopher, who tied for 34th place last year and 41st place in 2017, heard the following sentence to describe a grayish purplish blue: OPI calls this particular color of nail polish "You Don't Know Jacques," but this Jacques knows it should really be called "dark pervenche."
He got it right.
Then, when speller 446, Jason Sorin, came to the mic, Dr. Bailly had a question for him.
"Should we do this?" he asked.
"Why not?" Jason replied.
The North Carolina seventh grader who tied for 42nd place last year and 41st in 2017 got the word "exuviae" -- the natural covering of an animal (as the skin of a snake) after it has been sloughed off.
He got it right.
"Hephzibah," Dr. Bailly said. "How are you?"
"I'm good -- I thought that was my spelling bee word for a second," Hephzibah Sujoe, speller 562, said.
"Oh, that would be nice," Dr. Bailly replied.
Instead, the Texas seventh grader spelled "neossoptile" correctly. It's one of the downy feathers of a newly hatched bird.
Hephzibah tied for 323rd place last year. Her brother, Ansun Sujoe, was the 2014 co-champion.