As Smart as a Spelling Bee

It was my first time to watch a spelling bee. I chanced upon one at ESPN last night before I went to sleep. The emcee/judge would announce the word and the contestant would ask for the definition, etymology, alternative pronunciation etc. It was my first time to hear words like laquear, rognon, aniseikonia, oberek, cyanophycean, zoilus, vituline, pappardelle and videlicet. Two contestants reached the finals - Evan O'Dorney and Nate Gartke. Nate missed the word coryza which is actually an upper respiratory tract infection. Evan got serrefine, a noun of French etymology, which means a small forceps for clamping a blood vessel making him win the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee.