Latest news with #spelling
CBS News
a day ago
- General
- CBS News
Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Faizan Zaki on his winning moment and resilient comeback
Faizan Zaki was the big winner at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which celebrated its 100th anniversary. At the first Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1925, there were only nine participants. This year, 243 kids from across the country competed for the championship title. Zaki, from Allen, Texas, correctly spelled "éclaircissement" for the win, a word he said he instantly recognized. "I know that from … my previous studying. It means enlightenment and … it comes from French. So I just knew all that in my head and, so I just got right to spelling," Zaki said. But before his victory, in the final minutes of the competition, Zaki, along with the two other finalists, missed their words, sending the contest into another round. "There was a word that I got earlier, 'Commelina' and without thinking, I started spelling and so then I realized, 'oh, I need to slow down.' I asked for the information and then I realized that what I had spelled was wrong." NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND - MAY 29: Faizan Zaki, 13, of Dallas, Texas holds the Scripps Cup after winning in the 21st round of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on May 29, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland. Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images Zaki described his spelling process, saying he likes to get a general idea of the word first. "Basically, I hear the word and I try to get the information about the word before I spell," he said. The 13-year-old was last year's runner-up and encouraged people to never give up on their dreams. "If you really are passionate about something and stick to it then you can get it done since that's what I did. Like last year, I got second and I was really disappointed and I was really sad that I didn't win. But the next year, I just kept on studying and studying and studying and now I'm here, I have the trophy," Zaki said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Local 5th grader eliminated in semifinals of 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Towne Acres Elementary School fifth grader made it to the semifinals of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee. It was the bees' 100th anniversary. Swetank Bangaru (#199) finished 41st in the semifinal round. Bangaru was knocked out during round seven when he misspelled 'gyrencephalate' by only one letter. He correctly spelled 'hominin', 'whist', and 'conniption.' He also correctly defined 'pedantry' and passed a test threshold. Bangaru's favorite food is Dosa, his favorite animal is a saltwater crocodile and his favorite color is sonic gray. Click here to read his full Scripps Speller's slide. To win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, contenders must also master geography This year's bee featured 243 contestants between the ages of 8 and 14. The spellers represented all 50 states and D.C., as well as Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Well, That Was Surprising': Top Moments From the National Spelling Bee
After coming in as runner-up during last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee and bungling an earlier chance to win on Thursday night, Faizan Zaki was given a word that, if spelled correctly, would let him finally win it all: 'éclaircissement.' He smiled and, without hesitation, stated each letter easily, then collapsed on the floor amid a shower of confetti. The 13-year-old of Plano, Texas, didn't even need to ask for the word's meaning, 'a clearing up of something obscure.' The stunning win capped a surprising run that took down six finalists and momentarily left the bee's winner in doubt. Here are five takeaways from the competition. The nine finalists were unflappable. None of the nine finalists were eliminated in the first round as they easily tackled words like 'isopag,' 'ethology' and 'Politique.' The vocabulary round took out the first finalist, Akshaj Somisetty, 13, of Harrisburg, Pa., after he incorrectly defined 'imbroglio.' In the third round, Esha Marupudi, 13, of Phoenix, was eliminated after misspelling 'aromorphosis,' and Oliver Halkett, 13, of Los Angeles, was out after struggling with the word 'aurore.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Reuters
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Faizan Zaki, 13, crowned US National Spelling Bee champion
May 29 (Reuters) - Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old boy from the Dallas area, won the 97th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, swiftly nailing the French-derived word "eclaircissement," synonymous with enlightenment, in the 21st round of the contest finals. He edged out 14-year-old Sarvadnya Kadam, from Visalia, California, who finished in second place after misspelling "Uaupes," a tributary of the Rio Negro in South America, in the 20th round. Zaki, who was last year's runner-up, had correctly spelled "Chaldee," a dialect of the Biblical Aramaic language, in the 20th round. But under spelling bee rules, Zaki needed to land one more word in a solo round to claim the trophy. He did so in round 21 by instantly and precisely spelling "eclaircissement" - defined as a clearing up of something obscure. He surprised the audience by giving his answer without taking the customary pause afforded contestants to ask the judges for more information about the word's origins, meaning and pronunciation. He was crowned champion in a hail of confetti before being joined on stage by his parents and other relatives, and will receive $50,000 in prize money. Asked what he would do next, Zaki replied, "I'm probably going to stay up the entire night or something." Zaki, a resident of Allen, Texas, had nearly been eliminated in round 18 when he rushed, and stumbled over, the spelling of "commelina," a genus for some 200 species of dayflowers. But his two fellow finalists at that point, including Kadam, likewise fumbled their words, leading to a 19th round in which all three boys returned, but only two - Zaki and Kadam - survived to face off in the decisive 20th round. Sarv Dharavane, an 11-year-old boy from Tucker, Georgia, finished in third place after misspelling "eserine," the antidote of choice for many poisons, with one "s" too many. Thursday's total roster of nine finalists emerged from three days of competition at a convention center outside Washington, D.C., among 243 contestants aged eight to 14 who advanced from regional competitions across the country. Challenged with some of the most difficult and least-used words that English has to offer, many young competitors amazed spectators with their ability to produce the correct spellings with poise and precision. The Scripps media group has sponsored the event since 1925, with three years off during World War Two and one more for the COVID pandemic in 2020. Most competitors were from the United States, coming from all 50 states. Other spellers came from Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
CBS News
a day ago
- General
- CBS News
Why do we struggle to spell certain words?
Why do we sometimes struggle to spell words? Why do we sometimes struggle to spell words? Why do we sometimes struggle to spell words? Some of the brightest young minds just finished showcasing their knowledge of the English language. The 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee wrapped up this week with participants navigating words the average person likely never heard of, let alone could spell. While most might never reach their level of expertise, we wanted to know: Why do we struggle to spell certain words and does it get worse as we age? Telling stories for a living requires a thorough understanding of the English language, but that expertise has exceptions. When asked if she was good a spelling, Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield said no. "I would say a shaky C," for the grade she gave of her spelling ability. "I feel generally good but I feel like over time, I lose a little bit of it," said reporter Derek James who was quick to add that he did win a spelling bee sixth grade. Cole Premo, WCCO's digital manager, proofreads reporter's stories before they hit WCCO's website. "I'm always conscientious about looking at how I'm spelling. Conscientious, that's a tough one to spell," he said. Ask anyone if they have a word they struggle to spell and they'll typically have an answer ready to go. For Littlefield, it's "cemetery" and "exercise." "One word that comes to mind that I always look at multiple times is 'occasion'," said Derek James. Words with double consonants give him trouble. Ariel James is an assistant psychology professor at Macalester College. Her struggle word is "license." Why do we struggle to spell certain words? "One thing is just that English in particular is very tricky. It has what people call an opaque orthography," said Ariel James. Opaque orthography means there isn't a clear connection between how a word sounds and how it is spelled. Other languages tend to have a more transparent connection between the two. "In English there's just so many options for how to spell different sounds and so I think that's a lot of the issue so you have to memorize certain things," she said. Another phenomon that's hard to explain is called "wordnesia." You've likely experienced it. You write or type out a simple word correctly, but on a second look it appears to be misspelled. You're left sitting there confused as to why the word is spelled in such a way. "February, tomorrow is another one, restaurant," said Premo as he listed the words that leave him perplexed by their correct spelling. Wordnesia is described as a brain glitch for something that should be familiar. Ariel James says our brains are often on autopilot when typing or writing until a word makes us acutely aware. "If you look at something too long, I think it lets you step out of this sort of automatic, 'I just know things, it's implicit,' and then you think too much and things become strange," she said. Others have theorized that fatigue is another factor that can lead to wordnesia when writing. In those moments, you might lean on spellcheck to verify your spelling. Autocorrect is another tool helping people avoid typos. Is technology hurting our helping our ability to spell words? Derek James and Littlefield both feel that people have become too reliant on things like spellcheck, furthering their slow loss of how to spell words correctly. Ariel James sees the technology as both helpful and hurtful depending on how its used. She said spellcheck gives users instant feedback, otherwise they'd continue typing a word incorrectly without ever learning the true spelling. On the flip side, Ariel James said we learn information better when our brains do the work. "If you're typing and things just get automatically corrected as you're typing, you don't really have to put in the same kind of effort that it would take to generate [spelling words] yourself," she said. Putting in that mental effort could include memorizing a word's spelling or creating a mnemonic device to guide you. "One tip that really helped me was someone told me cemetery has no A's," said Littlefield. Studies have shown that while our vocabulary improves as we age, our ability to recall words or spell them correctly can diminish.
