The Bee Blog

Spelling is about friendship

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 14:15

Simone Kaplan, Speller 60 and a Florida sixth grader, just spelled "draegerman" correctly to stay in the competition. It's one of a crew of miners trained in underground emergency and rescue w...

Lauren is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 14:08

Lauren Guo, Speller 44 and a Colorado seventh grader, is out. Her word was "cotechino," a smoked and dried pork sausage. ...

Two more are gone

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 14:00

Snehal Choudhury, Speller 361, is out on "mydriasis," meaning dilation of the pupil of the eye, especially when prolonged. Snehal is an eighth grader from Ohio. Pranav Nan...

You don't need to say it to spell it

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:57

Shruthika Padhy, Speller 290, tripped over the pronunciation of her latest word, "Guayaquil." But that didn't stop the New Jersey seventh grader from spelling it correctly. Guayaquil is&nb...

Saketh is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:53

Saketh Sundar, Speller 251 and a Maryland seventh grader, is out. He misspelled "glycyrrhizin," a crystalline glycosidic acid constituting the sweet part of licorice root. As in: The spelle...

Organization

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:46

Erin Howard, Speller 98 and an Alabama seventh grader, is used to being first on the stage as we get into later rounds. In years past, we've organized spellers alphabetically by state. This year, i...

Nidhi is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:43

Nidhi Vadlamudi, Speller 74, is out on "bohea." The word means tea that is dark in color due to the leaf’s being fully fermented before firing. Nidhi is a California sixth grader. ...

Fun-sounding words

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:38

Paul Hamrick, Speller 72 and a California eighth grader, said before he entered the finals that he was worried he was going to miss the cut-off. The vocabulary test was hard, he said. “...

Dina is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:34

Dina Miranda, Speller 48, misspelled and is out. The California seventh grader's word was "orans," a usually female figure standing with outstretched arms as if in prayer used in early Christian ar...

Three more spellers out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:27

Sohum Sukhatankar, Speller 506 and a Texas sixth grader, misspelled "ligniperdous," meaning destructive to wood. Sohum tied for 23rd place last year. Also out is Pranathi J...

Nervous at first

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:23

Abhijay Kodali, Speller 484 and a Texas fifth grader, spelled "tapissier" correctly. It's a dealer in or maker of heavy handwoven textiles characterized by complicated pictorial designs. “I ...

Good luck and thank you

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:14

Melodie Loya, Speller 398 and a New York seventh grader, got out on "pignoli," the edible seed of the nut pine : pine nut. Melodie tied for 18th place last year. Her best friend, Speller 326, ...

That's the spirit

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 13:04

"Well, it's nice to see you again," Snehal Choudhury, Speller 361, said to Dr. Bailly the last time she approached the mic. "That's the spirit," Dr. Bailly replied. That time, the Ohio eigh...

You don't know what it's like

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:59

Sophia Nguyen, Speller 219 and a Missouri seventh grader, spelled "cetacean" incorrectly and is out. It's any of an order of aquatic mostly marine mammals including the whales, dolphins, porpoise...

Find your squad

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:55

It's Tara Singh's fifth and final year at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and it's bittersweet. “I'm trying to enjoy my last time as if it's my first,” said Tara, a Kentucky eighth grader an...

The octopush strikes again

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:49

Have we mentioned the octopush? It again reared its ugly head on the word for Nidhi Vadlamudi, Speller 74. The California sixth grader heard this sentence: "Examples of molluscivorous animals ar...

Rishik is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:45

Rishik Gandhasri, Speller 70 and a California sixth grader, is out. He misspelled "Yunnanese," which means of or relating to the province of Yunnan, China, or its inhabitants. &...

Honored to be here

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:40

Simone Kaplan, Speller 60 and a Florida sixth grader, spelled "bathysmal" correctly. It means of or relating to the bottom of the deeper parts of the sea, especially those parts between 100 and 1...

Cameron is out

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:29

Cameron Keith, Speller 24 and a Colorado sixth grader, is out on "chausses," the early medieval armor of linked mail that tightly covered the legs and feet and sometimes the body below the waist....

Doing my best

Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 12:19

Karthik Nemmani, Speller 471 and a Texas eighth grader, said he's happy to have made it this far in the competition. “I'm just doing my best,” he said. His best is pretty good. K...