when in doubt, spell it out:
play along with the bee
“The insurrection will now begin.”
- Mark Twain, at the opening of the 1875 Asylum Hill Congregational Church Spelling Bee
The 2013 National Spelling Bee went on for a total of 16 rounds. The first six of these rounds introduced a new
twist on the classic spelling bee format: a vocabulary test. In these vocabulary tests, contestants are asked to
define words that, in the past, they were asked only to spell. Included in this page are examples from each of
the 16 rounds, some spelling and some vocabulary. Many of these spelling words eliminated a hopeful Bee
contestant. Test your friends and family or have them test you to see who could compete in
the National Spelling Bee!
Round Two
Round One
Round Three
A person described as a
A person with bibliomania has ___
Something described as
huckster is ___
violaceous is ___
Answer: a preoccupation with
Answer: a door-to-door salesperson. Answer: against the law.
acquiring and possessing books.
Round Four: Semifinals
Please spell cabotinage.
Root: French
Definition: behavior befitting a
second-rate actor.
Round Seven
Please spell pathognomonic.
Root: Greek
Definition: characteristic for a
particular disease.
Round Nine
Please spell ushabti.
Root: Egyptian.
Definition: a funerary figurine
used in Ancient Egypt.
Round Five
What does reciprocity refer to?
Round Six
What does pedagogy refer to?
Answer: mutual dependence or
action.
Answer: the study of principles
and methods of education.
Round Eight
Please spell doryline.
Root: French
Definition: a type of
army ant.
Round Ten
Please spell cravanette.
Root: French
Definition: to make a
textile water-repellent.
Round Eleven
Please spell paryphodrome.
Root: Greek
Definition: having a vein that closely follows
the margin, used for leaf classification.
Round Twelve
Please spell hallali.
Root: French, imitative.
Definition: a huntman’s
bugle call.
Image of Contestant Sam Lowery by Evan Vucci, 2012.
Round Thirteen
Please spell ptyalagogue.
Root: Greek, Latin.
Definition: a drug or other agent
that increases the flow of saliva.
Round Fifteen
Please spell cyanophycean.
Root: English.
Definition: of or pertaining to the
Cyanophyceae class of blue-green algae.
Round Fourteen
Please spell haupia.
Root: Hawaiian.
Definition: a coconut milkbased Hawaiian dessert.
Round Sixteen
Please spell knaidel.
Root: German, Yiddish
Definition: a dumpling,
cooked by boiled or steaming.
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