Arizona Repertory Theatre’s

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

1925, 1st National Spelling Bee

Wendy Guey, 1996 national champion, winning word "vivisepulture"

"vivisepulture"• Definition:   an act or instance of burying 

someone alive • Etymology:   Latin vivus 'alive' + sepulture 

'burying'

Rebecca Sealfon, 1997 national champion, winning word "euonym"

"euonym"• Definition: an appropriate name for a person, 

place, or thing • Etymology: 1889; Gk. eu 'good' + onym 'name'

Jody-Anne Maxwell, 1998 national champion, winning word "chiaroscurist"

“chiaroscurist”• Definition: the artistic distribution of light and 

dark masses in a picture• Etymology: Italian, from chiaro clear + oscuro

obscure

Nupur Lala, 1999 national champion, winning word "logorrhea"

"logorrhea"• Definition: 1. pathologically incoherent, 

repetitious speech. 2. incessant or compulsive talkativeness; wearisome volubility. 

• Etymology: 1902, from “logos” + ending from “diarrhea.”

George Abraham Thampy, 2000 national champion, winning word "demarche"

"demarche"• Definition: an action or gesture by a diplomat, 

esp. a formal appeal, protest, or the like. • Etymology: French 15th c., from demarché, 

“walk, step.”

Sean Conley, 2001 national champion, winning word "succedaneum"

"succedaneum"• Definition: something that is used as a 

substitute, especially a medical drug or agent.• Etymology: from Latin succēdāneus  following 

after, from succēdere  to succeed

Pratyush Buddiga, 2002 national champion, winning word "prospicience"

"prospicience"• Definition: seeing ahead; the act of looking 

forward.• Etymology: Latin, from prospicientia

Sai R. Gunturi, 2003 national champion, winning word "pococurante"

"pococurante"• Definition: a person who is careless or 

indifferent • Etymology: 1755-65, Italian, from poco little + 

curante caring

David Scott Pilarski Tidmarsh, 2004 national champion, winning word "autochthonous"

"autochthonous"• Definition: pertaining to autochthons; 

aboriginal; indigenous.• Etymology: 1795–1805; from autochthon + 

ous.

Anurag Kaskyap, 2005 national champion, winning word "appoggiatura"

"appoggiatura"• Definition: musical term; a note of 

embellishment preceding another note and taking a portion of its time. 

• Etymology: 1745–55; from Italian, literally: a propping, from appoggiare  to prop, support.

Kerry Close, 2006 national champion, winning word "ursprache"

"ursprache"• Definition: a hypothetically reconstructed 

parent language, as Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages. 

• Etymology: from ur- primeval, original + Sprache  (language).

Evan M. O'Dorney, 2007 national champion, winning word "serrefine"

"serrefine"• Definition: a small forceps for clamping a 

blood vessel.

Sameer Mishra, 2008 national champion, winning word "guerdon"

"guerdon"• Definition: a reward or payment.• Etymology: from Old French gueredon,  of 

Germanic origin; final element influenced by Latin dōnum  (gift).

Kavya Shivaskankar, 2009 national champion, winning word "laodicean"

"laodicean"• Definition: a person who is lukewarm or 

indifferent, esp. in religion.• Etymology: 1605–15; referring to the early 

Christians of Laodicea.

Anamika Veeramani, 2010 national champion, winning word "stromuhr"

"stromuhr"• Definition: An instrument for measuring the 

quantity of blood that flows per unit of time through a blood vessel.