hendiadys – hen/dia/dys (two) |
pyrheliometer – pyr/helio/meter |
ornithicnite -ornith/icnite |
lychnoscope – lychno/scope |
cheiloplasty – cheilo/plasty |
tessellar -tessell/ar |
amphisbaena – amphis/baena |
parergal – parerg/al |
chorea – chor/ea |
periphyton – peri/phyt/on |
propositus – pro/posit/us |
imbrex – im/brex |
aichmophobia – aichmo/phobia |
flocculus – floccul/us (Akeelah and the Bee throwback) |
bombycine – bombyc/ine |
oxyrhynch – oxy/rhynch |
cyclazocine – cycla/zocine |
opisthograph – opistho/graph |
erythematous -ery/thema/tous |
pteronarcid – ptero/narc/id |
exuviae – ex/uviae |
terebinthinate – terebinth/in/ate |
diaeresis – dia/eresis |
neossoptile – ne/osso/ptile |
Month: May 2019
Root Words Galore in the Morning Finals- Round 4 Edition
compurgator – com/purgat/or |
anastylosis – ana/styl/osis |
fissiped – fissi/ped |
rhynchophorous – rhyncho/phor/ous |
nosology – nos/ology |
myelopoiesis – myelo/poiesis |
tachyglossid – tachy/gloss/id |
epicedium – epi/ced/ium |
gliocyte – glio/cyte |
basileus – basi/leus (think basilisk) |
morigeration – moriger/ation |
rescissory – re/sciss/ory |
ergodic – erg/odic |
tetranychid – tetr/anych (weird form of onych)/id |
ornis – orni |
unguis -ungui |
cyclamen – cycl/amen |
emblema – emblem/a |
planirostral – plani/rostr/al |
gnotobiotic – gnoto/bio/tic |
doraphobia – dora/phobia |
frontogenesis -front/o/genesis |
ichthyophagi – ichthyo/phagi |
propylon – pro/pylon |
nuchal – nuch/al |
postil – post/il |
caducous – caduc/ous |
pelargic – pelarg/ic |
atrament – atra/ment |
eloge – e/loge (logos) |
ptarmic -ptarm/ic |
castaneous – castan/eous |
empyreumatic – em/pyreuma/tic |
cerium – cer(es)/ium |
praseodymium – praseo/dym/ium |
butyraldehyde – butyr/aldehyde |
pilosebaceous – pilo/seb/aceous |
vibratiuncle – vibrati/uncle |
2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee- Preliminaries to Morning Finals
Just this afternoon, a record was set for the second highest preliminary test score required to pass on to the second stage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Spellers had to score at least 24 on the written test and spell all of their onstage words correctly during Rounds 2 and 3 correctly. The only time that the score was higher was back in 2013. With a larger group of spellers, it’s almost expected that the score should rise for qualifying into the morning finals. The finalists toed the line with exactly 50 spellers qualifying. If one more speller had gotten a score of 30, the qualifying score would have bumped up to 31.
However, this score is a reflection of the trend towards the usage of more and more online study tools which allow spellers to grow in skill and knowledge almost exponentially. The process of preparing of spelling bees has become more streamlined and in a sense more accessible hence the overall increase in scores. I think that this year is just the beginning of a new trend if Scripps doesn’t increase the difficulty of their tests.
This just seems to show how important it is to have a strong vocabulary in preparation for nationals, which I believe is a pretty good thing. After all, words are important because of their definitions first and foremost. Vocab likely was the primary determinant for the spellers that qualified for the semifinals.
The batch of finalists is quite stacked this year with many returners from last year and many up and coming spellers. The morning finals tomorrow may have some difficulty whittling down the spellers to 12 and may end up taking more than that to night finals once again. Either way, tomorrow certainly is going to be quite the interesting bee to watch.
2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee- Preliminary Written Round
So, quick breakdown of the format is 12 Offlist spelling questions, then 12 vocabulary questions followed by two more vocabulary questions.
Spelling
- Grok (Literary term from Stranger in a Strange Land)
- Dissilient (Latin!)
- Sciapodous (Greek! Scia= Shadow + Pod= foot. I believe in one of the Chronicles of Narnia books there was a bunch of dwarve-like beings that had the one foot and used it as an umbrella/shade)
- Rucervine (Latin again? Rusa + Cervus= Rucervus (deer))
- Epollicate (Another Latin! E= without + Pollex= thumb)
- Indiscerptible (Latin once more In= not+ discerpere= tear apart)
- Sobornost (Russian)
- Passim (Latin, seriously?
- Avoirdupois (French- Avoir du Pois it’s pretty standard)
- Zuppa Inglese (Italian yum!)
- Diel (Latin- It’s the last finally. Di/a= day)
- Ljubljana (Of course they needed one Geo word from Yugoslavia)
- Flak- criticism (slang!)
- Restive- fidgety (This was a trick question!)
- Exculpatory- vindicate (ex= remove, culp= blame)
- Raise Cain- to cause a commotion (Scripps even tweeted about this! Biblical references/slang)
- Ailurophile- lover of cats, has a bunch of kittens (ailuro= cats, phile= love)
- Megillah- long involved story (Some Biblical references just like 4/slang)
- Pyrosis- heartburn (pyr= fire, osis= condtion)
- Haymaker- punch (this is a bit slangy)
- Cyclopean- massive, huge (Greek myths!)
- Tritaph- tomb with 3 chambers (Tri= three+ taph= tomb, think epitaph)
- Manque- unsuccessful, frustrated (manquer= to lack)
- Dianoia- opiniona (dia= through, noia (noos)- to think/mind)
- Verso- left handed side (Latin, page being turned)
- Dromomania- wandering (Greek, dromo= run, wander, mania= obsession with)
The preliminary test was a bit on the easier side this year so I’m predicting a cutoff around 26-28 overall.