The Winning Words

Here are a few of the orthographic challenges that contestants have had to face.

Words That Won

2007	serrefine	: a small forceps for clamping a blood vessel
2006	ursprache	: a parent language; especially : one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages
2005	appoggiatura	: an accessory embellishing note or tone preceding an essential melodic note or tone
2004	autochthonous	: indigenous, native, aboriginal—used especially in nature
2003	pococurante	: indifferent, nonchalant
2002	prospicience	: the act of looking forward : foresight
2001	succedaneum	: a person or thing that takes the place or function of another
2000	demarche	: a course of action or maneuver
1999	logorrhea	: excessive talkativeness or wordiness
1998	chiaroscurist	: an artist who specializes in chiaroscuro
1997	euonym	: a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named
1996	vivisepulture	: the act or practice of burying alive
1995	xanthosis	: yellow discoloration of the skin from abnormal causes

ankylosaur	: any of a suborder (Ankylosauria) of herbivorous Cretaceous dinosaurs having a long low-lying thickset body covered dorsally with bony plates
coulombs	: the practical meter-kilogram-second units of electric charge equal to the quantity of electricity transferred by a current of one ampere in one second
delitescent	: lying hidden : obfuscated, latent
eleemosynary	: of, relating to, or supported by charity
gauche	: lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : crude
larghissimo	: in as slow a manner as possible — used as a direction in music
pentateuchal	: of or relating to the first five books of the Old Testament
sussultatory	: characterized by up-and-down vibrations of large amplitude — used of an earthquake
triskaidekaphobia	: fear of the number 13
zebu	: any of various breeds of domestic oxen developed in India that are characterized by a large fleshy hump over the shoulders, a dewlap, pendulous ears, and marked resistance to the injurious effects of heat and insect attack