The word that won the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee was “guetapens.” Yes, “guetapens.”
It means “to ambush,” and 14-year-old Snigdha Nandipati of San 
Snigdha Nandipati, 14, of San Diego wins National Spelling Bee.
(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Diego was the last contestant standing when she got it right, making her the newest champion.
The contest was held in Oxon Hill in suburban Washington over three days, starting with 278 contestants. The youngest was 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison from Virginia, who stole the show until she misspelled the word “ingluvies” in the second round. (The word means part of the esophagus of some animals.)
Here’s a selected list of the winning words from spelling bees past, going back to the first one in 1925. You can see the entire list here.
2011 — cymotrichous
2010 — stromuhr
2009 — Laodicean
2008 — guerdon
2007 — serrefine
2006 — Ursprache
2005 — appoggiatura
2004 — autochthonous
2003 — pococurante
2002 — prospicience
2001 — succedaneum
2000 — demarche
1995 — xanthosis
1990 — fibranne
1985 — milieu
1980 — elucubrate
1975 — incisor
1970 — croissant
1965 — eczema
1960 — eudaemonic
1955 — crustaceology
1950 — meticulosity
1945 — (no bee was held)
1940 — therapy
1935 — intelligible
1930 — fracas
1925 — gladiolus
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