✏️
Ask where the word came from
The single most useful question at a spelling bee.
Grades 9-12 - spelling bee
The rule
Competitive spellers are allowed to ask for a word’s language of origin, because the source language predicts the spelling far better than the sound does.
How it works
| Greek | ph, ch=/k/, rh, ps, y — chlorophyll, psychiatry |
| French | silent final t, -que, -eur — ballet, antique, chauffeur |
| German | sch, -ei- — gesellschaft, schadenfreude |
| Italian | doubled consonants, -a endings — appoggiatura |
| Japanese | clean consonant-vowel pairs — kamikaze, origami |
| Spanish | -illa, j saying /h/ — tortilla, mesa |
Watch out for
- French borrowings keep silent endings English would otherwise drop: ballet, bouquet, croissant, rendezvous.
- German compounds are spelled exactly as the parts are, which makes long words such as scherenschnitte more predictable than they look.
- Seven of the words above have actually won the National Spelling Bee: chlorophyll, psychiatry, croissant, gesellschaft, appoggiatura, kamikaze and scherenschnitte. You will find all of them in our Advanced word list.
Practise these words
chlorophyllpsychiatryballetgesellschaftappoggiaturakamikaze
▶ Open Spelling Practice