These Are The Hardest Words To Spell in the English Language
With the Scripps National Spelling Bee one week away, some linguists worked with Merriam-Webster to find out the most difficult words from the competition over the last 10 years.
Classic languages caused the most trouble for spelling bee contestants. Words with Greek and Latin roots tripped up students the most. French, German and Italian-based words also were problematic.
Here are some for you to play with - Bondieuserie [bohn-dyooz-ree], Schefflera [SCHEF-luh-ra] and Cipollino [chip-oh-LEE-no].
The Scripps National Spelling Bee starts Thursday, May 30th on ESPN 2.