The Winning Words
Here are a few of the orthographic challenges that contestants have had to face.
Words That Won
2007 |
serrefine |
: a small forceps for clamping a blood vessel |
2006 |
ursprache |
: a parent language; especially : one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages |
2005 |
appoggiatura |
: an accessory embellishing note or tone preceding an essential melodic note or tone |
2004 |
autochthonous |
: indigenous, native, aboriginal—used especially in nature |
2003 |
pococurante |
: indifferent, nonchalant |
2002 |
prospicience |
: the act of looking forward : foresight |
2001 |
succedaneum |
: a person or thing that takes the place or function of another |
2000 |
demarche |
: a course of action or maneuver |
1999 |
logorrhea |
: excessive talkativeness or wordiness |
1998 |
chiaroscurist |
: an artist who specializes in chiaroscuro |
1997 |
euonym |
: a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named |
1996 |
vivisepulture |
: the act or practice of burying alive |
1995 |
xanthosis |
: yellow discoloration of the skin from abnormal causes |
Words That Stumped in the Past
ankylosaur |
: any of a suborder (Ankylosauria) of herbivorous Cretaceous dinosaurs having a long low-lying thickset
body covered dorsally with bony plates
|
coulombs |
: the practical meter-kilogram-second units of electric charge equal to the quantity of electricity
transferred by a current of one ampere in one second
|
delitescent |
: lying hidden : obfuscated, latent |
eleemosynary |
: of, relating to, or supported by charity |
gauche |
: lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : crude |
larghissimo |
: in as slow a manner as possible — used as a direction in music |
pentateuchal |
: of or relating to the first five books of the Old Testament |
sussultatory |
: characterized by up-and-down vibrations of large amplitude — used of an earthquake |
triskaidekaphobia |
: fear of the number 13 |
zebu |
: any of various breeds of domestic oxen developed in India that are characterized by a large fleshy
hump over the shoulders, a dewlap, pendulous ears, and marked resistance
to the injurious effects of heat and insect attack
|