The nation’s best young spellers have gathered in Maryland this week for the 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. A total of 243 children between the ages of 8 and 14 are competing to be the last one standing as they try to survive round after round by correctly constructing some of the English language’s most confounding words.

Bougainvillea, scherenschnitte and cymotrichous. These are just some of the winning words from the last decade of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The long-standing annual competition has crowned 109 champions,