Faizan Zaki wins Spelling Bee 2025: Where is 13-year old from?
Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, claimed victory at the 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, edging out eight other finalists to take home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Zaki, last year's runner-up and a favourite going into the competition, triumphed after a tense and dramatic final round.
The contest narrowed down to three finalists — Faizan, 11-year-old Sarv Dharavane, and 14-year-old Sarvadnya Kadam. All three initially misspelled their words, forcing an additional sudden-death round.
'It's rare to see this level of late-round drama at the Spelling Bee,' said Paul Loeffler, the Bee's television analyst.
In the decisive moment, Zaki correctly spelled éclaircissement, a noun meaning 'a clearing up of something obscure.'
FAIZAN ZAKI FINALLY NAILED ÉCLAIRCISSEMENT FTW 🔥🙌 CONGRATS!!!
And that's after surviving Chaldee in R20, but before that... #spellingbee pic.twitter.com/UMS8xd4ybi
— ruletheword335 // TS 🐝 (@ruletheword335) May 30, 2025
Impressively, he spelled the word without asking any clarifying questions, then pumped his fists and collapsed to the floor in celebration.
'I'm really happy,' Zaki said after his win.
This year's competition began with 243 young spellers aged 11 to 14, who advanced from local and regional bees across the United States.
The event was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, just outside Washington, D.C.
Next year, the competition will move to Constitution Hall in the nation's capital.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, first held in 1925, has crowned 110 champions due to a number of ties in recent years, including an eight-way tie in 2019.
The 100th Champion in @ScrippsBee history, Faizan Zaki 🐝
In his fourth time competing at Scripps, Faizan broke through in the championship round spelling éclaircissement to bring home the trophy🏆
Congrats Faizan, well deserved🙌#DallasBIGWins pic.twitter.com/q0CLqmBESJ — Dallas Sports Commission (@dallas_sports) May 30, 2025
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Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Express Tribune
Faizan Zaki wins Spelling Bee 2025: Where is 13-year old from?
Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, claimed victory at the 100th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, edging out eight other finalists to take home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Zaki, last year's runner-up and a favourite going into the competition, triumphed after a tense and dramatic final round. The contest narrowed down to three finalists — Faizan, 11-year-old Sarv Dharavane, and 14-year-old Sarvadnya Kadam. All three initially misspelled their words, forcing an additional sudden-death round. 'It's rare to see this level of late-round drama at the Spelling Bee,' said Paul Loeffler, the Bee's television analyst. In the decisive moment, Zaki correctly spelled éclaircissement, a noun meaning 'a clearing up of something obscure.' FAIZAN ZAKI FINALLY NAILED ÉCLAIRCISSEMENT FTW 🔥🙌 CONGRATS!!! And that's after surviving Chaldee in R20, but before that... #spellingbee — ruletheword335 // TS 🐝 (@ruletheword335) May 30, 2025 Impressively, he spelled the word without asking any clarifying questions, then pumped his fists and collapsed to the floor in celebration. 'I'm really happy,' Zaki said after his win. This year's competition began with 243 young spellers aged 11 to 14, who advanced from local and regional bees across the United States. The event was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, just outside Washington, D.C. Next year, the competition will move to Constitution Hall in the nation's capital. The Scripps National Spelling Bee, first held in 1925, has crowned 110 champions due to a number of ties in recent years, including an eight-way tie in 2019. The 100th Champion in @ScrippsBee history, Faizan Zaki 🐝 In his fourth time competing at Scripps, Faizan broke through in the championship round spelling éclaircissement to bring home the trophy🏆 Congrats Faizan, well deserved🙌#DallasBIGWins — Dallas Sports Commission (@dallas_sports) May 30, 2025
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OUP shortlists for Word of the Year
To the delight of word-nerds and everyone who has had a passion for Spelling Bee at some point in their lives, Oxford University Press has shortlisted contenders for Word of the Year 2024. The six-word list is up on OUP's website. The first contender is "brain rot", which the site defines as "supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging". If you're up to date with the internet's latest trends and/or lingo, you should know that you are infected by brain rot. The second word is one that has been a top indicator of brain rot levels across social media users. This is none other than "demure". According to Oxford, demure is an adjective describing a person who is "reserved or restrained in appearance". The word was popularised by TikTok user Jools Lebron who coined the phrase "very demure, very mindful". Prepare yourself for a whiplash because the third contender is "dynamic pricing". As per Oxford, this means "the practice of varying the price for a product or service to reflect changing market conditions". As perplexing as this addition is, Oxford justifies it by referring to the spike in concert ticket prices, which eager fans easily fall for. Next is "lore", which is "a body of (supposed) facts, background information, and anecdotes relating to someone or something, regarded as knowledge required for full understanding or informed discussion of the subject in question". One thing we all know about being chronically online is that every like-minded social media user tends to fish for virality by dropping lore that is sure to get the internet talking. The next contender, "romantasy", is an exclusive BookTok win. It is defined as "a genre of fiction combining elements of romantic fiction and fantasy", with fantasy being associated with magic and the supernatural. And finally, we have "slop", which is referred to as low-quality AI-generated content that is "distributed online in an indiscriminate or intrusive way". With a voting poll up on OUP's website, you can secure your pick now!
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Suspect arrested in SRK case
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