Q 01/05

Which flower, whose name is Latin for 'little sword', did Frank Neuhauser spell to win the first National Spelling Bee in 1925?

A) Gladiolus

B) Chrysanthemum

C) Rhododendron

D) Amaryllis

Answer · why

A) Gladiolus

Gladiolus: the plant was named for its sword-shaped leaves, from Latin gladius, 'sword', the same root that gives us 'gladiator'.

Q 02/05

Which newspaper founded the National Spelling Bee in 1925?

A) The Washington Post

B) The Louisville Courier-Journal

C) The Chicago Tribune

D) The Cincinnati Enquirer

Answer · why

B) The Louisville Courier-Journal

The E. W. Scripps Company has run it since 1941; the finals are held near Washington, D.C. each late May or early June.

Q 03/05

If the national spelling bee's finals run out of air time, what settles them?

A) Written test

B) Speed round

C) Judges' vote

D) Coin toss

Answer · why

B) Speed round

Speed round: in the spell-off, each remaining speller gets a set time to spell as many words as possible, after the bee dropped its written tiebreaker...

Q 04/05

Zaila Avant-garde, who won the 2021 national spelling bee, also holds Guinness records in which sport?

A) Gymnastics

B) Swimming

C) Chess

D) Basketball

Answer · why

D) Basketball

Basketball: she has called spelling 'a side thing' and 'a little hors d'oeuvre', with basketball 'the main dish'.

Q 05/05

The nonsense word 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' is used to mean what?

A) Very lucky

B) Brand new

C) Wonderful

D) Extremely fast

Answer · why

C) Wonderful

Wonderful: the writers of a 1949 song with a similar word sued Disney's music publisher for copyright infringement, and lost.