20 Words That You Won’t Believe Won The Scripps National Spelling Bee

Today is the start of the Scripps National Spelling Bee–which has been an American institution since 1925. Every year, the world love to watch as kids from the age of 8 to 13 do their best to spell “gladiolus,” “insouciant,” “autochthonous,” “guetapens,” and other words that would help us win at Scrabble Word Finder.
And yet, not all of those winning words really stay impressive over the years. It’s kind of a shock to look back at the history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and discover certain words that got kids to the championship. Some are words that might’ve been unknown way in the past, but are surprisingly common today. Some are words that are just way too easy to spell out. By which we mean, so easy enough to spell out that our fellow staffers could get them right.
So check out these winners over the long history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and marvel at how even a COED writer might have taken home a medal in the past…

20. “knack” (1932)

19. “intelligible” (1935)

18. “kamikaze” (1993)

17. “Purim” (1983)

16. “narcolepsy” (1976)

15. “incisor” (1975)

14. “croissant” (1970)

13. “ratoon” (1966)

12. “eczema” (1965)

11. “condominium” (1956)

10. “psychiatry” (1948)

9. “promiscuous” (1937)

8. “deteriorating” (1934)

7. “sanitarium” (1938)

6. “sacrilegious” (1942)

5. “shalloon” (1971)

4. “fracas” (1930)

3. “interning” (1936)

2. “therapy” (1940)

1. “initials” (1941)