Congratulations to Station Middle School 8th grader, Pranav Sivakumar, who finshed 2nd in the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals in Washington D.C. Thursday night. He made it all the way to the top two in the 15th round before missing one letter while spelling the word cyanophycean as cyanophycein.
The winner of the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee is Arvind Mahankali of Bayside Hills, New York who won with his correct spelling the winning word, knaidel.
But we were on the edge of our seats as Pranav, who is from Tower Lakes, aced his way through the words leading up to the final round. With a smile, he spelled the word avellaneous, which is defined as “of the color hazel”.
Pranav breezed through his spelling of in the word faconne in the 12th round.
And we were so impressed and proud as he nailed each of these spellings leading up to round 15, according to his official spelling bee results page.
Not only did Pranav put Barrington and our schools in the spotlight, he inspired me to add a few new words to my vocabulary. Congratulations, Pranav. And here are the definitions for your words that I’ll be dropping in casual conversation soon ;), according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary…
em·bar·ca·de·ro noun \(ˌ)em-ˌbär-kə-ˈder-(ˌ)ō\
: a landing place especially on an inland waterway
py·rope noun \ˈpī-ˌrōp\
: a magnesium-aluminum garnet that is deep red in color and is frequently used as a gem
nu·ca·ment noun \ˈn(y)ükəmənt\
Latin nucamenta fir cones, literally, things shaped like nuts, from nuca- (from nuc-, nux nut) + -menta, plural of -mentum -ment — more at nut
das·y·phyl·lous adjective \¦dasə¦filəs\
1 : having leaves thick or thickly set
2 : having woolly leaves
odon·to·lox·ia noun \ōˌdäntəˈläksēə\
: irregularity of the teeth
Spen·gle·ri·an adjective \(ˈ)s(h)peŋ¦(g)lirēən\
: of or relating to a theory of world history that holds that major cultures (such as the Egyptian, Chinese, or Mayan) undergo similar cyclical developments from birth to maturity to decay, that modern western civilization also is undergoing such a development, and that its decline is consequently predictable
trans·rhe·nane adjective \¦tran(t)srə̇¦nān, -nzr-; tran(t)sˈrēˌnān, -nzˈ-, -reˌ-\
: situated or lying on the other side of the Rhine; specifically : german
ma·soo·la noun \məˈsülə\
: a boat made of planks sewed together with strands of coir which cross over a wadding and used for landing along the coast of Madras, India
se·mai·nier noun \səˈmen(ˌ)yā\
: a tall chest with seven drawers for use in a bedroom or dressing room
fa·con·ne adjective \¦fasə¦nā\
of textiles
: having a pattern that consists of small scattered figures or a fancy weave
av·el·la·neous adjective \¦avə¦lānēəs, -nyəs\
: hazel
hau·pia noun \hau̇ˈpēə\
: a Hawaiian pudding made of cornstarch and coconut cream
cy·a·no·phy·cean adjective \¦sīəˌnō¦fishən\
: a blue-green algae
So there you go! I’ll make some flash cards and if any of YOU can use these spelling bee words in a sentence, enter yours in the comments box below, just for fun.
Congratulations again, Pranav! And safe travels on your way back home to Barrington.
Thanks for this post … appreciate your supporting Pranav!
Anu (proud mom)
Nice to meet you Anu! We were proud of him too…sitting on the edge of our seats watching from home here in Barrington. So happy for you and Pranav, Liz