The Bee's official dictionary—Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its addenda section (©2002, Merriam-Webster)—has more than 472,000 word entries.
- 16 Days
- 11 Hours
- 32 Min.
- This year we welcome 293 spellers— the greatest number in the history of the event.
- Bee Week 2009 marks the first visit to the nation’s capital for 118 spellers.
- Speller 139, Sidharth Chand, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, placed second in the 2008 national finals.
- The spellers range in age from 9 to 15 years old, but two-thirds are either 13 or 14 years old.
- Speller 110, Kavya Shivashankar, of Olathe, Kansas, is a three-time top 10 finisher.
- The pronouncer, Dr. Jacques A. Bailly, is fluent in French and German, and he teaches ancient Greek and Latin.
- Speller 250, Gabriela Diaz, of Corpus Christi, Texas, practices spelling while jumping on her trampoline.
- English is not the first language of 33 spellers, and 117 spellers speak languages other than English.
- The spellers' favorite words include Weissnichtwo and humuhumunukunukuapuaa.
