Test your spelling skills
Word whiz Arvind Mahankali, 13, bested 280 other competitors to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. To prepare for the competition, students like Mahankali must master both spelling and vocabulary that would stump most adults.
Want to see how you measure up? Click through to hear some of the challenging words from the 2013 Spelling Bee and see how many you can get right.
Can you spell...?
K - N - A - I - D - E - L
Knaidel (noun): a dumpling, especially a small ball of matzo meal, eggs, and salt, often mixed with another foodstuff, as ground almonds or grated potato, usually served in soup.
Can you spell...?
C - Y - A - N - O - P - H - Y - C - E - A - N
Cyanophycean (adj.): Any member of the Myxophyceae; Blue-green algae
Can you spell...?
C - H - A - R - P - O - Y
Charpoy (noun): a bedstead of woven webbing or hemp stretched on a wooden frame on four legs, common in India.
Can you spell...?
M - E - I - O - S - I - S
Meiosis (noun): Part of the process of gamete formation, consisting of chromosome conjugation and two cell divisions, in the course of which the diploid chromosome number becomes reduced to the haploid.
Can you spell...?
S - C - I - O - M - A - N - C - Y
Sciomancy (noun): Divination with the help of ghosts.
Can you spell...?
B - E - E - T - H - O - V - E - N - I - A - N
Beethovenian (adj.): Of or pertaining to Ludwig van Beethoven.
Can you spell...?
L - A - U - R - E - A - T - I - O - N
Laureation (noun): The act of crowning with laurel; the act of conferring an academic degree, or honorary title.
Can you spell...?
P - U - L - T - A - C - E - O - U - S
Pultaceous (adj.): having a soft consistency, pulpy.
Can you spell...?
G - R - E - F - F - I - E - R
Greffier (noun): Registrar, recorder