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Tricks & Tips for Spelling Bee Success

2009

Spell It!



9 table of contents

1

G I i2 About This Booklet

W li s i g ti3 Words rom Latin

6 Words rom Arabic8 Words rom Asian Languages

9 Words rom French

12 Eponyms

13 Words rom German

15 Words rom Slavic Languages

16 Words rom Dutch

17 Words rom Old English

20 Words rom New World Languages

22 Words rom Japanese

23 Words rom Greek

26 Words rom Italian28 Words rom Spanish

30 Key to Exercises

2008 ChampionSameer Mishra

Copyright © 2008by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

All rights reserved. No part o this book covered bythe copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copiedin any orm or by any means—graphic, electronic,or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, orin ormation storage and retrieval systems—withoutwritten permission o the publisher.

Made in the United States o America

Check your local television listings orbroadcast times or the 2009Scripps National Spelling Bee

on ESPN and ABC.

CreditsText: Orin K. Hargraves

Editing: Carolyn B. AndrewsScripps National Spelling BeeMark A. StevensMerriam-Webster Inc.

Design: Lynn Stowe TombMerriam-Webster Inc.

Be sure to visitwww.myspellit.com or other activities,

a list o“Words You Need to Know,”

and links to defnitionsand pronunciations o

words on the Spell It! study lists.

about the bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is an educational promo-tion sponsored by The E.W. Scripps Company in conjunctionwith more than 280 sponsoring newspapers or organizations

around the world. Its purpose is to help students improve theirspelling, increase their vocabulary, learn concepts, and developcorrect English usage that will help them all their lives.

The program takes place on two levels: local and national.Sponsors organize spelling bee programs in their locales and sendtheir champions to the nals o the Scripps National Spelling Beein Washington, D.C. The national program is coordinated by TheE.W. Scripps Company corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.In addition to planning and conducting the national nals, thenational o ce annually publishes several word publicationsutilized by students, educators, and sponsors.

The program is open to students attending public, private,parochial, charter, and home schools. Participants must not havereached their 15th birthday on or be ore September 1, 2008,and must not have passed beyond the eighth grade on or

be ore February 1, 2009. A comprehensive set o eligibilityrequirements may be ound in the Rules or Local Spelling Bees at www.spellingbee.com.

The National Spelling Bee was begun in 1925. Nine studentsparticipated in the rst national nals. In 1941 Scripps Howardacquired the rights to the program. There was no Scripps NationalSpelling Bee during the World War II years o 1943, 1944, and1945. O the 84 National Spelling Bee champions, 43 have beengirls and 41 have been boys. Co-champions were declared in1950, 1957, and 1962. The 2009 Scripps National Spelling Beewill involve more than ten million students at the local level andover 275 national nalists.



92

Words from latIn

N o language has been more in uential in the development o advanced English vocabulary than Latin. There are tworeasons or this. First, when the French conquered

England in 1066, their language was very similar to Latin,and French remained England’s o fcial language or200 years. Second, Latin was the language o culture,religion, education, and science in the Western world

rom the Middle Ages until relatively recently. It is stillused today to name newly discovered species o plants andanimals and to orm some compound words in various scientifc and

technological felds.

(For footnotes, see Spelling Tips, pages 4–5.)

3about thIs booklet

W

inanerelevantimpetuousambivalentdejectedpostmortemincriminateaccessplausibleinterrupt 1

alliterationre ugeeamicablelucid 2

percolatemeticulous

astidioustrajectoryanimosityimplementambiguitycurriculumomnivorousbellicoseelectoralcrescent 3

obsequioustransect

precipicesusceptiblecondolences 4

bene actorcandidatebugle

ormidablecanarysubter ugeabdicatelunaticcarnivore 5

gregariousostentatious

prosaic6

herbivoreprodigalmagnanimousbenevolentmercurialsimile

jovialridiculousinnateobstinatediscern

mediocreinsidiousruptureprecipitateeruditecolloquialintractableexuberant 7

ingeniousretrospectiveominousvulnerableomnipotentconsensus

disciplinealleviatespectrumprescriptioncapitulationincredulousa nitynecessaryadjacentdissectconjectureimperative

predicatecorporalpatinaCapricornparticipantlibrarycognitionprimal

lamentunityventilateaquaticigneousreptile

providencemessage

oliatenasaloperarenovatecredentialstemporalcaninemeasurecredible

study wordscontinued on

page 4

elcome to the 2009 edition o Spell It!, the Scripps NationalSpelling Bee study booklet. This year’s study booklet ocuses

on about 1150 words. Almost all the words are dividedinto sections by language o origin. (The booklet also

contains one special section: eponyms.) This division bylanguage o origin will enable you to learn and r emember

several important rules, tips, and guidelines or success ullyspelling words in English—the most challenging language o

all or spellers!

The o cial dictionary o the Scripps National Spelling Bee is the 2002 edition oWebster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, published by Merriam-Webster. The etymological in ormation in Webster’s Third is ar more detailed thanwhat you will nd in this booklet, whose categorization o words by language oorigin concentrates on the infuence o primarily one language.

Each section contains “challenge words” in addition to its basic study list. The basicstudy-list words and the challenge words are typical o the words that will be usedin most local spelling bees this year. In some highly competitive local spelling bees,however, spellers remaining at the end o the contest will receive words that do notappear in this booklet. Some organizers o local bees will even create their owncompetition word lists, which may contain none o the words you will nd here!

Although this booklet’s main purpose is to provide you with the o cial list ostudy words or 2009, each o its sections also contains at least one exercise. Theexercises are intended to give you urther in ormation about words that come roma particular language and help you better understand how the words behave inEnglish. Some o the exercises are quite challenging. Don’t eel discouraged i youcan’t answer all o them! Your teacher may have you work on them in groups oras a class. The solutions to the exercises are printed on pages 30–31.

We hope that you’ll nd this short booklet as enjoyable as it is educational and thatthe ascinating acts you’ll learn about the words discussed here will stay with you

or many years to come!

Be sure to visit www.myspellit.com or other activities, a list o “Words You Need to Know,” and links to defnitions and pronunciations o words on the Spell It!study lists.



95

emininitycon dencetriumviratepopularitydiaryhumblevivisectionstrict

prosecutecontiguousductilegradientcurrentper dy

delityincorruptible

challenGe Wordssoliloquyaccommodatepernicious 8

e cacyvisceralexacerbateindigenousbelligerent

vernacularin nitesimalrecalcitrantinnocuousprecociousamelioratecommensurate

acetious

prerogativeubiquitousegregiousaggregatetertiarycorpuscleperennial

4

5 The letter i is a vowel o ten used to connect two Latinword elements. I the connecting vowel sound is a schwa( \ə \ ) and you must guess at the spelling o this sound,the letter i might be a good guess: See carnivore andherbivore. Other examples include non–study-list wordsthat end in i orm such as ovi orm and pedi orm.

6 The letter k rarely appears in words rom Latin, and itssound is nearly always represented by c as in canary, prosaic,canine, mediocre, Capricorn, cognition, ductile, incorruptible,vernacular, innocuous, and many other words on the list.

7 The letter x o ten gets the pronunciation \gz\ in words romLatin (as in exacerbate and exuberant ).

8 The combination ious ends many adjectives o Latin origin. When the consonantthat precedes ious is c or t, the sound o the nal syllable is \shəs\ as in precocious,

acetious, ostentatious, and pernicious. It is important to keep in mind that severaladjectives rom Latin ending with this sound end in eous rather than ious. In suchinstances, the de nitions o the words usually contain phrases such as “consistingo ,” “resembling,” or “having the characteristic o .” Examples include non–study-list words herbaceous, cetaceous, and lilaceous.

Words from latInWords from latIn

spellInG tIps for Words from latIn1 One o the hardest things to remember about words rom Latin is whether an

internal consonant (like rr in interrupt ) is doubled. To rein orce your memory othe correct spelling, try to remember related words all together (like interrupt along with interruption or necessary along with necessity ).

2 The \ \ sound (as in ooze ) is nearly always spelled with u in words rom Latin.It typically ollows a \d\, \j\, \l\, \r\, or \s \ sound. A ter other consonants, thissound normally becomes \y \ (as in bugle, subter uge, ambiguity, and prosecute and in one pronunciation o re ugee ).

3 Beware o words like crescent in which the \s \ sound is spelled with sc in wordsrom Latin. Other examples include visceral, discern, discipline, susceptible, and

corpuscle .

4 A related tip: When you hear within a word rom Latin the \s\ sound ollowed byany o the sounds o e (long, short, or schwa), there’s a possibility that the \s\ sound is spelled with c as in exacerbate, access, adjacent, condolences, acetious,and necessary.

noW You trY!1. Curriculum is another word rom Latin like necessary and interrupt that has an

internal double consonant. Can you think o an adjective related to curriculum that also has double r?

2. Some o the Latin study-list words end with the sound \shəs\ , and theconsonant that begins the last syllable is c or t (see tip 8, above). Can you thinko two words in English that end with this sound and are spelled with xious?

3. The rarely used plural o consensus is consensuses , but some words rom Latinthat end in us have a plural that ends in a long i sound ( \ \ ) and is spelled with i .Can you think o three such words?

4. Three words on the study list come rom the Latin verb that means “throw.”These words are conjecture, dejected, and trajectory. See i you can unscramblethese letters to nd our other common English words that have the same root:

jbustce trecje rptcjeo cotbej

5. The consonants gn o ten occur in words rom Latin. When theydivide two syllables o a word, both o them are pronounced.Some words rom Latin, however, have the consonants gn in asingle syllable. In this case, the g is silent, as in design . Can youthink o three other words rom Latin in which this happens?



6 7

W ords rom Arabic have come into English in two di erentways. A relative ew, in more modern times, have made the jump directly as loanwords. In these instances, Arabic

had a name or something that was either unknown inEnglish or lacked a name. The more requent route o Arabic words into English was in previous eras, o tentraveling through other languages on the way. For that

reason the spelling o Arabic words in English is notconsistent, but there are nevertheless a ew clues that you

can watch out or.

t i f r om he t o T he Ar ab i c al p hab e t has 28 l e t t e r s, and amo ng t he se ar e l e t t e r s t hat r e p r e se nt hal a d o z e n

so und s t hat d o no t e x i st i n E ngl i sh. T he r e o r e , w he n a w o r d c r o sse s o v e r r o m Ar ab i c t o E ngl i sh, t he r e i s al w ay s a

c o mp r o mi se ab o ut ho w i t w i l l b e sp e l l e d and p r o no unc e d , w hi c h so me t i me s r e sul t s i n i n-c o nsi st e nc i e s. S o me E ngl i sh c o nso nant s hav e t o d o d o ub l e o r t r i p l e d ut y , r e p r e se nt i ng v ar i o us so und s i n Ar ab i c t hat nat i v e sp e ak e r s o E ngl i sh d o n’ t mak e .

muslincamphoralgorithmminaretserdabtamarindcara e

julepmarzipannenupharalcazar

tahiniQatarialkaliserendipitynadirdouane

ennecha zazimuthbezoarhalal

alimSwahilimihrabsalaammukhtarkhor

oggaradi aco fe

challenGe Words

spellInG tIps for Words from arabIc1 Double consonants are o ten seen in words rom Arabic.

More o ten than not, they occur in the middle o a wordas in mummy, cotton, henna, oggara, co e, tarragon,and several other words on the list. Their appearance at theend o a word (as in albatross and tari ) is usually becauseo the spelling conventions o English or some otherlanguage that the word passed through to get here.

2 A typical word rom Arabic has three consonant sounds, withor without vowels between them. Gazelle, sa ari, talc, cara e,mahal, tahini, alkali, hafz, and salaam are typical examples.

3 Note how many words on this list begin with al: This spelling can be traced to thede nite article al (“the”) in Arabic, which sometimes gets borrowed along with a word.Most o the time the spelling is al in English, but note el in elixir.

4 A long e sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word rom Arabic is o ten spelled with i as in sa ari and several other words on the list but may also be spelled with y as in mummy and alchemy.

5 The schwa sound ( \ə \ ) at the endo a word rom Arabic is usuallyspelled with a as in henna,tuna, algebra, al al a,

oggara, and di a.

noW You trY!1. Elixir is typical o a word rom Arabic in that it has three consonant sounds, not count-

ing the sound o the letter l that is rom the Arabic de nite article (see tip 3, above).Why do you think elixir is spelled with only two consonants a ter the l in English?

2. Arabic has three di erent letters, all with di erent sounds, that English speakersconvert to a \k \ sound. How many di erent ways is \k\ spelled on the list owords rom Arabic?

azureIslamicsultanartichokemummy 1

tarragonadobemohairboraxtalcarsenallemontuna

admiralhazardapricotcarminemonsoonaveragegazelle 2

crimsonorangesequinmacramealgebraguitar

nabobgira emattresselixirsa roncottonalbatross 3

zerosa ari 4

magazinezenithal al aimam

mosquealcoholtarililacalcovemassagehenna 5

alchemysugartajmahalkhanghoul

f o l k e y o log y

I s i t j u s t co i nc ide nce t ha t m oh air de -

sc r i be s t he ha i r o a goa t ? No t e xac t l y.

M oh air — l i k e do ze n s o o t he r wo rd s i n t h i s

boo k — i s t he re s u l t o a p roce s s ca l led “ o l k e t -

y mo log y. ” Fo l k e t y mo log y so me t i me s occ u r s w he n

a wo rd t ra ve l s ro m o ne la ng uage to a no t he r. S pea k -

e r s o t he ne w la ng uage ( o rd i na r y “ o l k s ” ) o te n c ha nge

t he wo rd i n a wa y t ha t ma k e s i t mo re l i k e wo rd s i n t he i r

la ng uage. To he l p t he m re me m be r j u s t w ha t t he wo rd i s,

t he y m ig h t e ve n c ha nge a pa r t o i t to ma tc h a wo rd t ha t

i s a l read y a m i l ia r to t he m. T he o r ig i na l A ra b ic o r

m oh air i s mukh a y y ar. T he e le me n t h a y y ar doe s n ’ t

mea n “ ha i r, ” b u t i t s so u nd wa s c lo se e no ug h

o r E ng l i s h s pea k e r s to ma k e t he co n nec -

t io n. Wa tc h o u t o r o t he r wo rd s t ha t

yo u s u s pec t m ig h t ha ve e le me n t s o

o l k e t y mo log y i n t he m!

Words from arabIc Words from arabIc9



9 Words from french

98

t i s f r om he t o M o st o t he w o r d s o n t hi s p age r o m v ar i o us Asi an l anguage s w e r e i nt r o d uc e d i nt o E ngl i sh b y p e o p l e

w ho sp o k e E ngl i sh. T he r e o r e , i y o u ar e n’ t ami l i ar w i t h a w o r d and d o n’ t k no w

any r ul e s o r sp e l l i ng w o r d s r o m i t s l anguage o

o r i gi n, as a l ast r e so r t y o u mi ght t r y sp e l l i ng i t t he w ay

a sp e ak e r o E ngl i sh w ho i s an unt r ai ne d sp e l l e r w o ul d

sp e l l i t . Ano t he r ap p r o ac h t hat i s so me t i me s use -

ul i s t o sp e l l a b o r r o w e d w o r d o r p ar t o a b o r r o w e d w o r d i n t he w ay t hat an E ngl i sh w o r d y o u al r e ad y k no w w i t h si mi l ar so und s i s sp e l l e d . T hi s ap p r o ac h w o ul d w o r k o r sp e l l i ng mo n g o o s e , o r e x -amp l e .

gymkhanabasmatiginghammandirbhalugourami

masalaraitatanhaasana

batikcharpoydurwanmahoutprabhuBuddha

topenglahar

jnanaHoli

noW You trY!1. One sound is spelled with the same

double vowel in six o the words romAsian languages on this page. Whatsound is that, and how is it spelled?

2. The long e sound ( \ \ ) is spelled ee in dungaree andrupee . Name three other ways it is spelled in the words above.

3. Why do you think bungalow is spelled with a w atthe end? (Hint: See the second paragraph underTips rom the Top, above.)

W hen English-speaking people—mainly the British—began to trade with the Indian subcontinent and theFar East, it was necessary to fnd words or many things

never be ore encountered, whether oods, plants, animals,clothing, or events. Many words that were borrowed rom

Asian languages as a result o trade have become wellestablished in English, and the process continues today. It isdi fcult to fnd reliable patterns to help you spell these wordsbecause they were borrowed at di erent times by di erentpeople.

dugonggurucushyseersucker

jungleoolongnirvana

banglecummerbund

juggernautpangolinmahatmarupeemongoose

shampootyphoonbamboo

jackaldungareebungalow

gunnysackchutneykarma

juteyamenrajkama

punditlootkavya

jivapanditchintzpatel

challenGe Words

Words from asIan lanGuaGes

Be ore the Modern English that we speak today was ullysettled, the French o the Middle Ages—a direct o shooto Latin—was widely spoken in the British Isles as a

result o the conquest o Britain by France in 1066. Englishis so rich in vocabulary today partly because we o tenhave words with similar or overlapping meanings, one o which came via the Germanic route (that is, rom Anglo-Saxonor another Germanic language) and one via French. So, orexample, we may call the animal ahog (Old English), but the meatit produces is pork( rom French).

Today, words with French ancestry are everywhere in English.Our pronunciation o vowels and consonants is quite di erent rom the modern Frencho today, but there are many consistent spelling patterns that can help us make educatedguesses about how to spell words that come rom French.

pelotonbarragechagrin 1

paci smmanicurealtruismbureaucracymascotpar aitmystiquelayette 2 boutiquedressagecroquetgorgeousdenturemiragedenimcachet 3

neologismbeigediplomatmotisuave

oyer 4

clementine

ambulancerehearseleotardprairie 5

dioramaentourage

uselageboudoircollage 6

amenableexpertisematineeplateausortiecroquettephysique 7

elitedeluxenougatrouge 8

escargotcrochetregimedoctrinairetutubevel

menuegalitarianquiche

atiguegaragemorguestethoscopevogue

musicalepalettefamboyantbatonsouvenirimpasse

nessemaladroit

t i f r om he t o F r e nc h has many d i e r e nt v o w e l so und s and d i p ht ho ngs

t hat ar e d i st i nc t l y F r e nc h, b ut i t has o nl y t he same 26 l e t t e r s t o sp e l l

t he m w i t h t hat E ngl i sh has. T he r e o r e , F r e nc h r e l i e s o n c e r t ai n c o mb i nat i o ns o v o w e l s and c o nso nant s i n sp e l l i ng t o sho w w hat v o w e l so und i s me ant . W he n p r o -no unc e d i n E ngl i sh, many o t he se so und s ar e si mp l i f e d . T he r e sul t i s t hat many d i e r e nt E ngl i sh sp e l l i ngs st and o r t he same so und i n F r e nc h w o r d s.

(For footnotes, seeSpelling Tips, page 10.)



910 11

Words from frenchWords from french

challenGe Wordsgaucherapportcamoufagegenrevirguledebacle

usillade saboteurrenaissancechauvinism

recidivistchassisdétenteraconteurmayonnaisesurveillancerepertoire dossiertaupepoignant

garçoncroissantecrulieutenantprotégémélangeblasé

êteingenuerendezvous

noW You trY!1. Read these two pronunciations o non–study-list

French words and then spell them. You’ll discovertwo other ways that a long a sound ( \ \ ) can bespelled at the end o a word rom French:

\ka- f \ \ m - l \

2. The consonant w is rare in French. You get ten points orusing it in French SCRABBLE®! Find the our words on thestudy list that have a \w \ sound and tell how this sound isspelled in each word.

3. The word mirage has two common related words in English that come ultimatelyrom the Latin root mirari, a word that means “wonder at.” One o these English

words has three r’ s; the other has only one. Can you guess the words?

4. English has dozens o words rom French that end in ee. Some, like melee, have along a pronunciation ( \ \ ). Others, like levee, have a long e ( \ \ ). Can youthink o two other words rom French ending in ee that have the long a sound and two that have the long e sound?

5. O the words on the study list, three could also have been listed on theEponyms page (page 12) because they are based on the name o a person orcharacter. Which three words are these?

a l l arou d h m d i rr

I yo u ’ re ge t t i ng a n odd se n se o d é j à

vu loo k i ng a t so me o t he se F re nc h wo rd s,

yo u ’ re no t m i s ta k e n! So me o t he m a re p u re l y

F re nc h — t ha t i s, t he y ha ve no o b v io u s roo t s i n

a no t he r la ng uage. A l a rge n u m be r, ho we ve r, ha ve

roo t s i n La t i n ( s uc h a s ambul an c e a nd r en ai s s an c e ) a nd

G ree k ( s uc h a s dipl om a t , n e ol o gi sm , a nd s t e th o s c op e ).

Lo ng be o re F ra nce wa s a n i nde pe nde n t co u n t r y i t wa s pa r t

o t he Ro ma n E m p i re, a nd i t s la ng uage wa s c lo se to La t i n. T he

Ro ma n E m p i re wa s, i n t u r n, i n ue nced b y t he c i v i l i za t io n o

c la s s ica l G reece t ha t p receded i t. W i t h so r ic h a he r i tage,

t he F re nc h d id no t ha ve to t ra ve l ve r y a r to f nd a wo rd

o r j u s t a bo u t e ve r y t h i ng! Di or am a i s a s pec ia l ca se.

I yo u see e le me n t s i n i t t ha t re m i nd yo u o G ree k

wo rd s, yo u a re co r rec t; b u t t he F re nc h ac t ua l l y

mode led t h i s wo rd o n a wo rd t he y sa w i n

E ng l i s h —p an or am a — w h ic h wa s, i n

t u r n, made ro m G ree k roo t s!

spellInG tIps for Words from frenchFrench nearly always spells the \sh\ sound with ch, and this spelling o the sound isvery common in words rom French. Chagrin , chauvinism, and crochet are examples.

A word rom French ending with a stressed \ e t \ is usually spelled with ette asin croquette and layette.

A long a sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word rom French can be spelled a number oways. One o the more common ways is with et as in cachet, crochet, and croquet.

One way to spell long a at the end o a word rom French is with er as in dossier andin oyer. Most Americans, however, do not pronounce the ending o oyer with a long a.

A long e sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word rom French can be spelled with ie as in prairie

and sortie. (But see exercise 4 on page 11 or another spelling o the long e ending.)Words ending with an \ zh \ sound are common in French. This sound is spelled age as in collage, mirage, dressage, garage, barrage, camou age, entourage, and uselage.

A \k \ sound at the end o a word rom French is o ten spelled que as in mystique,boutique, and physique.

The \ \ sound (as in rouge and many other words on the list)in words rom French is usually spelled with ou. Sometimes,however, it is spelled with u as in tutu and ecru.

When the \sh\ sound occurs at the end o a word rom French,there is nearly always a silent e that ollows it, as in quiche and gauche.

Words ending with an \ d\ sound are common in French.This sound is spelled ade as in usillade.

French speakers have a number o vowels that English speakers modi y in pronunciation.Our way o pronouncing the French aise (pronounced \ez\ in French) is usually \ z\ .



91312

Words from GermaneponYms

English and German are in the same language amily,and because o that you might expect that they wouldlook more like each other than they do! While many

words o German origin in English have some telltale signs,others have been anglicized (made to look and sound moreEnglish). There ore, you might not know at frst glancewhere they came rom.

There are two main reasons why older borrowings romGerman tend to look less German and more English. First, Englishpatterns have had more opportunity to in uence older Germanic

words, both because they’ve had more time to do so and because spelling wasn’t stan-dardized until well a ter these words entered English. Second, the German language hasitsel evolved since English borrowed these words, so the spelling patterns characteristico modern German didn’t necessarily govern the spelling o older German words.

schaden reude 6

dreidelweimaranerersatz

räuleinblitzkrieg 7

gesundheit

p e ernussedelweiss 8

glockenspielrottweilerschottische anschlusswedel

springerlezeitgeberpickelhaubeschneckeWeissnichtwo

pralinemagnoliaboysenberryhostapoinsettiamacadamiasalmonellanewtonsaxophonetortoni

greengageangstromgardeniamelbatantalizezinniaquislingbegoniasamaritanPanglossian

quixote jeremiadhectorGeronimoshrapnelvulcanizeFrankensteinBoswellamperecupid

FletcherismyahoodieselbandersnatchCrusoementorDracula

Eponyms are words based on a person’s or character’s name.Sometimes the person’s name and the word are exactly thesame and the word simply takes on a new meaning. In

other cases the person’s name is slightly changed. When thishappens, the stressed syllable o the new word can also

change and you won’t always recognize the origin, whichmight be a somewhat amiliar name. Take, or example,

gardenia.It’s really just a man’s name (Alexander Garden) withthe plant-naming su fx-ia.In act, all o the words on this listthat end with ia are names or plants and are based on the last

names o botanists.

orsythiamadeleinebromeliadmercerizeFahrenheitnarcissistic

dahliaBaedekerphilippicguillotineBobadilmesmerize

gnathonicpasteurizeCroesusbraggadocio

noW You trY!1. Six o the eponyms listed above are inspired by characters rom Greek or Roman

mythology. Which six eponyms are they?

2. I you discovered a new plant and you could use your rst or last name to givea name to the plant, what would you call it? How would you pronounce it?

angst 1

pretzelwaltzhaversacknoshsauerbratenhinterlandverbotenliverwurststreuselumlautwanderlusteiderdownschnauzerlederhosenkohlrabi

sitzmarklanglauautobahnBacksteininselberggestalteinkornkitsch 2

gestaposchlossrucksackechtbratwurstknapsack

eldsparpoltergeist

noodlespareribsMeistersinger 3

pumpernickelBildungsromanstrudelbagelhamstercobaltnachtmusikvorlage 4

graupelWagneriancringle

eglitz

homburgkuchenpitchblendespritz 5

prattlezwingerspitzrealschulepanzerstollendachshundseltzer

Be sure to visit www.myspellit.com or other activities, a list o “Words You Need toKnow,” and links to defnitions and pronunciations o words on the Spell It! study lists.

challenGe Words

(For footnotes, seeSpelling Tips, page 14.)

challenGe Words



91514

noW You trY!1. A surprising number o words in English or dog breeds come rom

German. On our list there are ve: rottweiler, schnauzer, weimaraner, spitz,and dachshund. See i you can ll in the blanks in the ollowing words to correctlyspell some other dog breeds rom German:

dr _ ht _ a _ r p _ _ _ le a enp _ _ sch _ _ Do _ _ _ m _ n

2. The el spelling at the end o words such as streusel, pretzel, and dreidel is typicalo German words that end with this sound. The le spelling o this sound in noodle,cringle, and prattle, on the other hand, is more typical o English. Whatgeneralization can be made about the di erences in these spellings?

3. The vowel combination au is usually pronounced the same way in English wordsrom German as it is in German words. Looking at umlaut, sauerbraten, autobahn,

schnauzer, langlau , graupel, and pickelhaube, which word would you say has beenmore anglicized in its usual pronunciation? Why do you think this is?

spellInG tIps for Words from German 1 Don’t shy away rom consonant clusters! German words

o ten have combinations o three or more consonants thatdon’t occur in thoroughly English words. Examples include n gst in angst, sch in schaden reude, schn in schnauzer,

and nschl in anschluss. 2 A \k\ sound in a word rom German is usually spelled with

k at the beginning o a word or syllable (as in kitsch andeinkorn ) and o ten with ck at the end o a word or syllable(as in knapsack and glockenspiel ).

3 A long i sound ( \ \ ) usually has the spelling ei in words rom German, as in räulein,Meistersinger, zeitgeber, and several other words on the list.

4 The \f \ sound, especially at the beginning o a word, is sometimes spelled withv in German words as in vorlage. Other examples include the non–study-listwords herrenvolk and volkslied.

5 The letter z is ar more common in German than in English. Note that its pronuncia-tion is not usually the same as English \z \ . When it ollows a t, which is common, thepronunciation is \s\ as in spritz, pretzel, blitzkrieg, and several other words on the list.

6 The \sh\ sound in words o German origin is usually spelled sch as in schaden reude , whether at the beginning or end o a word or syllable. In schottische, you get it inboth places!

7 A long e sound ( \ \ ) usually has the spelling ie in words rom German,as in blitzkrieg and glockenspiel.

8 The letter w is properly pronounced as \v \ in German, as you hear in onepronunciation o edelweiss and in wedel and Weissnichtwo. Many Germanwords, however, have become so anglicized that this pronunciation has

vanished. Most Americans, or example, say “bratwurst,” not “bratvurst.”

Words from German Words from slavIc lanGuaGes

M any people in Eastern Europe and Asia speak a Slaviclanguage such as Czech, Ukrainian, Croatian, orBulgarian. And that’s completely apart rom Russian,

a Slavic language spoken by more than 200 million people!Some words o Slavic origin that have made their way intoEnglish traveled through another language frst, re ectingthe act that contacts between English-speaking and Slavic-speaking cultures have not always been direct.

t i f r om he t o T he “ so und i t o ut ” st r at e gy w o r k s w e l l w i t h mo st w o r d s o S l av i c o r i gi n. Al t ho ugh so me S l av i c

l anguage s use t he R o man al p hab e t and so me , l i k e R ussi an and B ul gar i an, use

t he C y r i l l i c al p hab e t , o ur sp e l l i ngs o mo st o t he se w o r d s ar e ai r l y E ngl i sh-

r i e nd l y . T ak e no t e : T he

r e que nt sc hw a \ ə \ at t he e nd o w o r d s i s usual l y sp e l l e d w i t h a , and t he

\ k \ so und i s ne ar l y al w ay s sp e l l e d w i t h k .

balalaika

kielbasatchotchkebarukhzyperestroikaapparatchik

commissar

tokamakpogromtaigaBeetewk

noW You trY!1. The su x -nik as in sputnik comes originally rom

Slavic languages to denote a person o a certain type. Can youthink o any other words in English (most o them in ormal) that use this su x?

2. Look up these our study-list words in a dictionary and study the etymologies.Which is the odd one out, and why?

nebbish kishke cravat knish

gulag

parkaSlavrobotsamovarkremlintroikaslavemammothSiberiantundraPermian

kishke

glasnostpaprikasablekashanebbishpolkaBolshevikvampiresputnikknishcravat

babushka

SovietBorzoigopakchekasevrugatrepakbabkapurga

babacossacknelmakovshlokshen

eldsherbarabaraaul

challenGe Words



hei ermistletoesalvekirtle

Wiccanshrievalchary

91716

Words from dutch ike German, Dutch is a member o the same language

amily as English: the Germanic amily. Many o theoriginal European settlers in North America came rom

the country that later became the Netherlands, and thoseearly settlers were one o the sources o Dutch words inAmerican English today.

noW You trY!1. All o the ollowing non–study-list words are part translations rom another language.

Can you guess the original language o each? Use a dictionary i you can’t guess!cranberry grosbeak alpenglow smearcase

mynheerwaterzooifensemuishondwitloospringbokmaelstrom

bobbejaankeeshondvoortrekkeruitlanderhollandaisegaljoenschipperke

apartheidhartebeestkeestwainscotroodebok

O ld English was the language spoken in Britain be ore theFrench arrived in 1066. I you could listen toa conversation in Old English, you would

probably be scratching your head a lot. A ew o the words would make sense, but most o themwouldn’t. Like plants and animals, languagesevolve—keeping the things that they fnd use ul,discarding others, and picking up new things alongthe way. This study list represents some o the realsuccess stories in English: words coined long ago that have notlost their use ulness over dozens o generations!

quell 1

barrowdearthbowerpaddockblithekeenmongrelrecklessaldermanwhirlpoolbelay 2

cleanserdreary 3

bequeath

sallow4

drosslithegristleearwig

cklenestle 5

ennelnostrilabidebehestslaughter 6

gospelurlong

linseednether

athomnightingale

arthingthreshold

kithwantonloam 7

yieldmattock

hawthorntithebehoove

orlornquiverhustingsaspenmermaidanvilbarleylindenhassockorchardhearth 8

watery

endgoateeearthenwarewindilydealership

bookkeepingery

learnednosiestcreepyerranddailygnatbroadleastringydairyworkmanshipnew angledtimelydogged

mootable

womanlymanhandle

olksinessworrisomeroughhewnknaveryhurdlekipperhundredthiciclepina oreyieldablehue

t ip fro m he t op

Yo u ha ve a g rea t ad va n -

tage i n lea r n i ng to s pe l l a wo rd

t ha t ha s bee n i n E ng l i s h fo r a ve r y

lo ng t i me. C ha nce s a re t ha t t he wo rd

be lo ng s to a g ro u p o f wo rd s t ha t s ho w

t he sa me s pe l l i ng pa t te r n, s i nce wo rd s i n

a l l la ng uage s ha ve a ha b i t o f co n fo r m i ng

to eac h o t he r o ve r t i me. A s yo u s t ud y

t he wo rd s o n t he l i s t, t r y to re me m -

be r t he m toge t he r w i t h a no t he r

wo rd o r wo rd s w i t h a s i m i la r

so u nd a nd s pe l l i ng.

Words from old enGlIsh

t r ue i n p ar B u c k w he a t i s an e x amp l e o a “ p ar t t r ansl at i o n.” W he n a w o r d t hat has t w o p ar t s ( l i k e

E ngl i sh r o w b o a t ) t r av e l s r o m ano t h-

e r l anguage t o E ngl i sh, w e so me t i me s t r ansl at e o ne p ar t and k e e p t he so und o t he o t he r p ar t w i t ho ut t r ansl at i ng i t . T he o r i gi nal D ut c h o r b u c k w he a t i s b o e k -w e i t . W he n t hi s w o r d c ame i nt o E ngl i sh, w e k e p t t he so und o b o e k and t r ansl at e d w e i t ( “ w he at ” ) .

(For footnotes, see SpellingTips, pages 18–19.)

L

challenGe Words

cockatookeelhaulharpoon

urloughboweryeaselholster

reebooterwa fetrawluproarbeleaguercrulleryacht

wiseacrebrackishdecoycaboosebuckwheatwalrushowitzercrimpblustipplefosscruiserhustleklompenpolderbundlecatkinsplice

Flemishgrabblehuckster

rolicraveltattlescumtrekscrabbleclapboardgruisinglassexciseblisterrabbitpackagemuddlehandsome

oiststapleguldenmartscreenguilderetchNetherlanderdunecroonticketbuckwagonhockboodleguy

da odilloiterpotashscowwintergreentriggerstripebruinskipperwaywiserspoormizzleschoolpicklesnu

challenGe Words



91918

Words from old enGlIsh Words from old enGlIsh

p p :W f I t !

Have you ever noticed that when someone joins a group, he or she o ten does whatever

possible to blend in? Believe it or not, words o tendo the same thing! The best way or a new word to

survive in a language is to look or sound like other words.Be ore long, the new word is accepted as a native.

For example, our list has three words that (a) have twosyllables, (b) have a double consonant, and (c) end withock:

paddock, mattock,and hassock.The ock part o these words isan Old English su fx used to orm diminutives (smaller ver-

sions o something). Now, look at these non–study-listEnglish words:cassock, haddock, and hammock.I you

guessed that they all came rom Old English usingthe same su fx, you would be wrong! All these

words came into English later and some camerom other languages, but it was easy andconvenient to spell them according to

a amiliar pattern.

spellInG tIps for Words from old enGlIsh1 Old English likes double consonants ollowing short vowels, especially i the vowel

is in a stressed syllable. Examples include quell, paddock, mattock, sallow, ennel, hassock, errand, barrow, kipper, and Wiccan.

2 A long a sound ( \ \ ) at the end o words rom Old English is nearly always spelled

ay as in belay.3 Long e (\ \ ) at the end o an adjective or adverb rom Old English is nearly always

spelled with y. Examples include dreary, watery, windily, fery, creepy, daily, stringy,timely, womanly, and chary.

4 Long o (\ \ ) at the end o words rom Old English is typically spelled with ow as in sallow and barrow. By contrast, a long o at the end o a word in many languagesthat English has borrowed rom is simply spelled with o.

5 When the syllable \səl\ ends words rom Old English, it is nearly always spelled stle, with the t being silent (as in gristle and nestle ).

6 Silent gh a ter a vowel is common in words rom Old English, as in slaughter. Silent gh usually appears a ter i in words like plight (not on the study list) and nightingale,and it signals that the vowel is pronounced \ \ .

7 The vowel combination oa in words rom Old English is nearly always pronounced aslong o (\ \ ) as in loam and goatee. Examples not on the study list include shoal,boast ul, and gloaming.

noW You trY!Now’s your chance to fll up some o the empty spots in your

memory with a ew non–study-list words in English that look likesome words on the study list. We’ll give you a pattern and then some clues to see iyou can think o other words in English that are spelled according to the same pattern.

pattern: double consonant ollowed by ock example: paddock

clue: a small hill answer: _______________________

A. pattern: double consonant ollowed byow example: harrow

1. clue: a pointed weapon answer: _______________________

2. clue: the flling o bones answer: _______________________

3. clue: a small songbird answer: _______________________

4. challenge clue: a wild plant with yellow answer: _______________________or white owers

B. pattern: consonant sound ollowed by allow example: sallow

5. clue: not deep answer: _______________________

6. clue: thick at rom cattle answer: _______________________

7. challenge clue: a plant with showy owers answer: _______________________8. challenge clue: (o a feld) not cultivated answer: _______________________

C. pattern: ending \ \ spelled as the example: lithe

9. clue: eel strong dislike or answer: _______________________

10. clue: churn or oam as i boiling answer: _______________________

11. challenge clue: twist as a result o pain answer: _______________________

12. challenge clue: a cutting tool with a answer: _______________________curved blade

D. pattern: ending \səl\ spelled as stle example: nestle

13. clue: a sti hair answer: _______________________

14. clue: a common weed with prickly leaves answer: _______________________

15. challenge clue: a rame that supports answer: _______________________

16. challenge clue: a ormal word or a letter answer: _______________________

8 Silent e on the end or not? For words rom Old Englishthat end in either hard th ( \th\ ) or so t th ( \ \ ),remember this: More o ten than not, so t th willhave a silent e at the end o the word. Consider,

or example, bequeath, dearth, kith, hearth, and hundredth versus blithe, tithe, and lithe. Interestingly,the word blithe can be pronounced both ways.



92120

The people o the tribes and nations who lived in theNew World be ore the arrival o European explorers were likepeople everywhere: They had a name or everything! O ten,the language o the newly arrived people simply absorbedthe native term, imposing changes on it that would make it

ft in better with the newcomers’ language. Some o theseterms jumped directly to English rom a native language.

Others traveled through some other language along the way.Though Hawaiian isn’t a true New World language, it is includedhere because Hawaii is now a part o the United States.

t i s f r om he t o Al l o t he so ur c e l anguage s o

w o r d s i n t hi s st ud y l i st ar e unr e l at e d t o E ngl i sh, and many o t he m ar e unr e -

l at e d t o e ac h o t he r . F o r e x amp l e , c a s he w i s r o m t he nat i v e S o ut h Ame r i c an l anguage

T up i , w hi c h has no c o nne c t i o n w i t h H aw ai i an, t he so ur c e o k a hu na , o r Al go nqui an, w hi c h gi v e s

us c a r i b o u . M any o t he se w o r d s ar e r o m l anguage s t hat had

no al p hab e t at t he t i me o b o r r o w i ng o r t hat had t he i r o w n uni que w r i t i ng sy st e m. T he r e sul t i s t hat i nt r o d uc t i o n i nt o E ngl i sh, w he t he r d i r e c t o r i nd i r e c t , i nv o l v e d so me c o mp r o mi se i n p r o nunc i at i o n and sp e l l i ng w hi c h o -t e n r e e c t s t he r ul e s o E ngl i sh o r so me i nt e r me d i ar y l anguage .

Words from neW World lanGuaGes

opossumterrapinocelothoomalimalicoati

jacamaripecacmenhadensachem

condoriguanahurricane 1

kahunahogan

jerkymuskrathominywigwampampascaribou 2

tobogganpersimmon

quininepowwow

bayoucoyote 3

tamalepoicashewluautotemmolehickorycacaokonamalihiniwikiwiki

Tuckahoepecan

chipotleskunkwoodchuck 4

chocolatemuumuupumatomatomaracapetunia

jaguar

buccaneerllamasuccotashcaucuswampummahimahitoucan

spellInG tIps for Wordsfrom neW World lanGuaGes1 Remember that words settling down in English are o ten

spelled according to English word patterns. I you’recompletely unsure o how to spell a word rom a NewWorld language, you can try just “sounding it out.”This strategy would work or hurricane, muskrat,wigwam, and several other words on the list.

2 Take note o the language(s) a word may have traveled throughon its way to English, or the path to English o ten gives a clue about spelling.For example, i it had been up to an English speaker, the \ \ sound at the end ocaribou would probably have been spelled oo; but the infuence o French givesus the current spelling because French usually spells this sound ou.

3 Coyote shows evidence o having passed through Spanish on its way to English:The voiced nal e is o ten seen in Spanish words. Two other examples on this listare tamale and mole .

4 Remember what olk etymologyis? Words that entered English

rom New World languageswere prime candidates orthis process. I parts o anative word sounded amiliar, they were o ten spelled bythe settlers in a amiliarway, as in woodchuck.Muskrat is alsoprobably a resulto olk etymology.

noW You trY!1. The two words on the

study list that suggest olketymology denote animals.Which o the ollowingnon–study-list words or plantswould you think have olketymologies?pennyroyal campanulachickling brooklime poppy

2. Cashew, persimmon, hickory, cacao, and pecan are all New World trees andhave names rom New World languages. Based on your knowledge o typicallyEnglish words, which o the ollowing tree names do you think are romNew World languages?

oak ash catalpa beech elm maple guava pine

Words from neW World lanGuaGes

I f l n ic

o s y I t w ic

D id yo u e ve r lo se a f ip - f op a t a win g din g

w he re a l l t he bi g wi g s we re ea t i ng c ou s c ou s?

We l l, ma y be no t. B u t i t wo u ld be u n to sa y t ha t

yo u d id! A l l h u ma n la ng uage s ha ve a ea t u re ca l led

“ red u p l ica t io n. ” I t a p p l ie s to wo rd s t ha t f t a n y o t h ree

pa t te r n s: ( a ) bo t h s y l la b le s a re

ide n t ica l ( a s i n c ou s c ou s ), ( b )

t he seco nd s y l la b le r h y me s w i t h t he f r s t ( a s i n win g din g a nd

bi g wi g ), a nd ( c ) t he seco nd s y l la b le ha s a d i e re n t vo we l b u t t he

sa me co n so na n t s a s t he f r s t ( a s i n fip - f op ). T he rea so n t ha t a l l

la ng uage s ha ve red u p l ica t i ve wo rd s i s t ha t peo p le l i k e t he m!

T he y ’ re u n to sa y a nd ea s y to re me m be r. T h i s s t ud y l i s t

ha s o u r red u p l ica t io n s: p o w w o w , m ahim ahi , wiki wiki ,

a nd muumuu. S uc h wo rd s a re u s ua l l y ea s y to s pe l l.

I t he s y l la b le s a re ide n t ica l, t he y a re s pe l led

ide n t ica l l y. I t he y d i e r o n l y b y t he vo we l

so u nd s o r o n l y b y t he co n so na n t so u nd s,

t he n o n l y t ha t pa r t o t he wo rd c ha ng -

e s ro m o ne s y l la b le to t he ne x t. challenGe Words



92322

lethargyandroidchronicbiopsyironyautomatonenthusiasmsynopsishomogeneousodysseymegalopolisacme 1

synonymorthodoxaristocracycalypsopatriarchhierarchycharacter 2

isobarasteriskeclecticmelancholystoicchronologyeulogydidacticcosmeticSpartangeothermalcynical 3

homonymcryptichypothesisacademypentathlonantibioticdiatribeetymologyhydraulic 4

traumahygienesemanticsthesaurusphenomenon 5

cosmosprotagonistacronymparadoxsynchronousmisanthropysarcasmephemeralpolygonnemesissyntaxeurekatopography

panicapostrophegeraniummetaphorsphericalxylophone 6

dynamicmyriadepiphanyapathysynergyamnesiaphilanthropydemocracystrategy 7

diagnosistopicalmatriarchendemicanalysis 8

rhetoriceponymagnosticdogmaidiomthermaldyslexiaOlympianallegorypragmaticadamant

protocoltragichydrologypolymernotochordbiblicalergonomicmathematicstachometerproteinrhinoceroshyphenautopsypyreherpetologyangelictritiumandrocentricdemoticgeodehedonismperiscopegeoponicsasthmogenicmonotonousamphibioussymbiosismacronperiphery

All the words on this list are related to words that were used2500 years ago! English gets an important part o itsvocabulary rom the language o ancient Greece. Classical

Greek, as it is called, is quite di erent rom but closely relatedto the language spoken in Greece today. The ancient Greeksprovided the oundation or many important ways o lookingat the world and or living in society that are still importanttoday; that is one reason their language has remained soin uential. It is still used today, or example, when scientistsneed a word to describe something newly created or discovered.

(For footnotes, seeSpelling Tips, pages 24–25.)

Words from GreekWords from japanese

Japanese is a relative latecomer among the languages thathave in uenced English, making it a welcome language o

origin or spellers: Recently borrowed words are spelledmore consistently than are those rom languages that

English has been borrowing rom or centuries. Keep in mindthat the Japanese writing system uses symbols or words, so

English words rom Japanese are written with the Romanalphabet according to the way the words sound.

ninjasushi 1 to ushogunhonchokarate 2 samuraiteriyakisashimi

tsunamihaiku 3

utonmikado 4 hibachiorigamigeisha 5 wasabiramen

kudzubanzaitycoonsumokoansatoritatamikamisukiyaki

kurumaMeijiRomajiodorimisoKabukigetasayonara

karaokenisei

sanseiissei

kibei

spellInG tIps for Words from japanese1 A long e sound ( \ \ ) is very common at the end o Japanese words and is usually

spelled with i as in sushi, teriyaki, wasabi, Meiji, odori, and several other words onthe list.

2 The sound o long e is spelled simply with e in some words rom Japanese. Examplesinclude karate and karaoke.

3 An \ \ sound is also a common way to end Japanese words and is spelled withu as in haiku, to u, and kudzu.

4 Long o ( \ \ ) at the end o a word rom Japanese is spelled with o as in honcho,mikado, sumo, and miso.

5 A long a sound ( \ \ ) heard in geisha is spelled ei in some words rom Japanese. Fouro the challenge words have this spelling o the long a sound and contain the wordelement sei, which means “generation.”

noW You trY!1. Study the sounds that occur at the ends o words rom Japanese on the study list.

Based on what you see there, which o the ollowing non–study-list words wouldyou say is not rom Japanese, and why?

kanban ginger wok soba kendo

2. From what you have learned about Japanese words in English, how manysyllables do you think each o these non–study-list words rom Japanese has?

matsutake kamikaze netsuke wakame

challenGe Words



92524

spellInG tIps for Words from Greek1 In a ew words rom Greek, e appears at the end o a word and has long e sound

\ \ : Some examples are acme, apostrophe, and hyperbole .2 A \k \ sound in English o ten represents a sound rom Greek that we don’t actually

use, and the most common spelling o this sound in English is ch: See anachronism,arachnid, character, chronic, chronology, dichotomy, gynarchy, hierarchy, matriarch,melancholy, notochord, patriarch, synchronous, and tachometer.

3 The most requent sound that y gets in words rom Greek is short i (\i \ ) as inacronym, calypso, cryptic, cynical, dyslexia, eponym, homonym, myriad, Olympian,

polymer, symbiosis, synchronous, synergy, synonym, synopsis, and syntax.4 A long i sound ( \ \ ) in a word that comes rom Greek is sometimes represented

by y , especially a ter h , as in hydraulic, hydrology, hygiene, hyperbole, hyphen,hypothesis, cynosure, dynamic, gynarchy, pyre, and xylophone.

5 In ancient Greek, the letter phi (pronounced \ f \ ) represented a breathy or“aspirated” version o the sound that is represented in English by . Speakers oRoman-alphabet languages did not have this sound or a corresponding letter, so theysubstituted the \f\ sound but memorialized the original sound o phi by using ph tospell it. As a result, the English \f\ sound almost always appears as ph in words oGreek origin. Consider, or example: amphibious, apostrophe, cacophony, diphthong,epiphany, euphemism, hyphen, m etamorphosis, metaphor, periphery, phenomenon,

philanthropy, philately, philhellenism, spherical, topography, xylophone, and zephyr. Hundreds o words in English derived rom Greek show this spelling.

6 The letter o is the vowel most o ten used to connect two Greek word elements.I the connecting vowel sound is a schwa ( \ə \ ) as in xylophone, notochord,androcentric, orthodox, ergonomic, geoponics, and asthmogenic, and you mustguess at the spelling o this sound, the letter o is a very good guess. The non–study-list words hypnotist, geometric, and electrolyte are among the many, manywords made o Greek word elements connected by o.

challenGe Wordsdichotomymisogynisthypocrisydiphthongmnemonic

anomalyzephyrhippopotamus

euphemismanachronismmetamorphosishyperbolearachnid

paradigmEocenegynarchy

pneumaticHemerocalliscynosurephilhellenismeuthanasia

philatelycacophony

Words from Greek Words from Greek

Be sure to visit www.myspellit.com or other activities, a listo “Words You Need to Know,” and links to defnitions andpronunciations o words on the Spell It! study lists.

noW You trY!Here are a ew more Greekwords with their pronunciationsand de nitions. A ter each de nitionis an explanation o what a part othe word means. See i you can thinko other words in English that containthe same Greek word part, spelled in thesame way.

1. analysis \ə- na-lə-səs\ n separation o something into its parts. The lysis parto this word means “loosening” or “breaking up” in Greek.

2. android \ andr id \ n a robot that looks like a human. The andr part o thisword comes rom the Greek word that means “man.”

3. diatribe \ d -ə- tr b\ n bitter or abusive writing or speech. The dia part o thisword means “through,” “across,” or “apart” in Greek words.

4. isobar \ -sə- b r \ n a line on a map connecting places that have the samebarometric reading. The iso part o this word means “equal” in Greek words.

5. pentathlon \ pen- tath-lən \ n an athletic competition consisting o ve events.The pent/penta part o this word comes rom the Greek word that means “ ve.”

6. polygon \ p -l - g n \ n a drawn gure that encloses a space and has straightsides. The gon part o this word means “angle” in words rom Greek.

7. thermal \ thər-məl \ adj related to, caused by, or involving heat. The therm parto this word appears in other words rom Greek involving heat.

7 The \ j\ sound is always spelled with g in words romGreek. Why? When the \ j\ sound appears in words oGreek origin, it does so as an anglicized pronunciationo a root originally pronounced with a hard g . Note thatno j appears in any o the words on this list!

8 A schwa in words rom Greek is occasionally spelledwith y: See analysis, etymology, misogynist, odyssey, and zephyr.

exa mpleapathy \ a-pə-th \

n lack of feeling. The path part of this word

comes from the Greek wordfor “feeling.” Some other

words you might think ofare: em pathy, pathol-

ogy, sympathy , and telepath y.



92726

English vocabulary owes Italian a big debt in twocategories that provide a lot o enjoyment or manypeople: music and ood. During the 17th century, when the

idea o giving some instructions to per ormers o musical scoresfrst started catching on, many o the important composers wereItalian—and it was natural or them to use their own language.The result is that the standard terms or musical expressiontoday are Italian. Many Italian ood terms made their way intoAmerican English particularly as a result o 19th-centuryimmigration. We might have adopted them anyway, though,

or many people love Italian ood!

scherzo 6 adagioseguezucchini 7

capriciousarchipelagocharlatan

maraschinopaparazzo 8

antoccinimozzarellagaribaldiocarinaprosciutto

trattoriavivacecappellettipizzicatointaglio

Words from ItalIanWords from ItalIan

challenGe Words

staccatoballotcon etti 1

semolinainfuenzacavalrypiazzacadenzapistachiospinetcantataincognito 2

vendettacontraband

mascaragra ticredenzaparapet

alsettodittoprovolone 3

extravaganzascampibelladonnagondolarotundacaulifowergalleriaregattacrescendo 4

balconyport olio

antipastolibrettovirtuosoharmonica

maestrobravura

rescostucco 5

in ernoballerinamalariagrottoharpsichordallegrovirtuosaspaghettipiccoloravioli

vibratopestoariabambino

salamiParmesanoratorio

nalescenariocontrapuntalilluminaticoncertomacaronipalmettobandit

ascocameosonata

coloratura

spellInG tIps for Words from ItalIan1 Long e (\ \ ) at the end o a word rom Italian is usually

spelled with i as in con etti, gra fti, zucchini, antoccini,cappelletti, and many other words on the list . In Italian, a nal i usually indicates a plural orm. This is notalways true, however, o Italian words in English.

2 Long o (\ \ ) at the end o an Italian word is spelled witho as in incognito, vibrato, stucco, virtuoso, concerto,

prosciutto, pizzicato, and many other words on the list.3 A long e sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word rom Italian can be

spelled with e as in provolone, fnale, and one pronunciationo vivace, although this spelling o the sound is less common than i (see tip 1).

4 The \sh\ sound has various spellings in words rom Italian; a spelling it usuallydoesn’t have is sh! It can be spelled sc as in crescendo and prosciutto or ch as incharlatan and pistachio. The spelling o the \sh\ sound in capricious is also seen inwords that come rom Latin—the ancestral language o Italian.

5 The \k \ sound can be spelled cc when it comes be ore long o (\ \ ) as in stucco or when it comes be ore \ \ as in staccato.

6 Another Italian spelling o \k \ is ch as in scherzo.7 The sound \ -n \ , common at the end o Italian words

(it orms diminutives), is usually spelled ini (as in zucchini and antoccini ).

8 The double consonant zz is typically pronounced \ts\ in words rom Italian, as in paparazzo, mozzarella,

pizzicato, and one pronunciation o piazza.

noW You trY!O cially, Italian uses only 21 o the 26 letters in the Roman alphabet. The lettersit doesn’t use ( j, k, w, x, and y ) do appear in Italian books and newspapers—butusually only to spell oreign words. Young Italians think it’s cool to use these oreignletters, so they may eventually be accepted into the language. But or now, o cialItalian nds other ways to spell the sounds we normally associate with these letters.In light o that in ormation, see i you can answer these puzzlers!

1. One word on the list o Challenge Words has a \w\ sound. How is it spelled?

2. One o the sounds we normally associate with j appears in one pronunciation oa word on the Challenge Words list. What is the word, and what letter is used tospell the sound?

3. The Italian word rom which we get cavalry is cavalleria. The Italian word romwhich we get balcony is balcone. Why do you think these words ended up witha y on the end in English?

4. Il Messico is the Italian name o a country. What country do you think it is?



92928

Words from spanIsh

England and Spain had some opportunities or wordexchanges through war and trade. The real crossroads orSpanish and English, however, has been North America,

starting as early as the 15th century when Spanish explorersfrst came to the New World. This crossroads is as busy

today as ever, or Spanish is the second–most- requentlyspoken language in the United States. Because o the long

border we share with Mexico and the large number o Americans whose origins go back eventually to Mexico,

American English has many words that come directly rom

Mexican Spanish.

t i f r om he t o T he go o d ne w s ab o ut w o r d s r o m S p ani sh i s t hat t he y ar e o t e n sp e l l e d t he w ay t he y so und .

T he r e i s no ne e d t o t hr o w i n any si l e nt l e t t e r s i n mo st c ase s! B e sur e t o hav e a l o o k , t ho ugh, at t he sp e l l i ng t i p s o n t hi s and t he ne x t p age . spellInG tIps for Words

from spanIsh1 A long o sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word is o ten a mark o Spanish origin, and

it is nearly always spelled simply with o as in embargo and many other words onthis list.

A long e sound ( \ \ ) at the end o a word o Spanish origin is usually spelled withi as in mariachi.

noW You trY!1. One o the two words beginning with j on our study list also begins with a \j \

sound, but the letter j does not always have this sound in words rom Spanish.What is the initial consonant sound in these our non–study-list words, whichalso come rom Spanish?

jalapeño jipijapa jinete jojoba

2. Why do you think English uses either c or qu but not k to spell the \k\ sound inwords o Spanish origin?

3. You can see rom the words on the list that ch is common in words rom Spanishand that it usually has the same pronunciation as English normally uses or ch. Inwhich word rom the list does ch sometimes have a di erent pronunciation?

4. We have seen already that c o ten represents a \k\ sound in words rom Spanish.In which three words on the list does c have a di erent pronunciation, and whatsound does it have?

5. The two l’ s in alligator are not the usual ll that you o ten see in the middle owords rom Spanish. When this word was borrowed, the Spanish masculinede nite article el (“the”) was borrowed along with it. El lagarto in Spanishbecame alligator in English. Do you remember in what other language thede nite article is o ten borrowed along with the word when it enters English?

Words from spanIshThe \k \ sound is sometimes spelled with qu in words oSpanish origin. This is especially true when the vowel soundthat ollows is long a (\ \ ), long e (\ \ ), or short i (\i \ ).Quesadilla and conquistador (in its pronunciations bothwith and without the \w\ sound) are examples rom our list.

It is much more common or the \k\ sound to be spelledwith c in words o Spanish origin. This is almost invariablewhen the vowel sound that ollows is a schwa ( \ə\ ) as incanasta and embarcadero; short a (\a\ ) as in castanets andcaballero; or long o (\ \ ) as in amenco and junco.

A schwa at the end o a word rom Spanish is very common and is usuallyspelled with a as in mesa, bonanza, and several other words on the list.

The combination ll in Spanish words is traditionally treated as a singleletter and is pronounced as consonant \y\ in American Spanish. Whensuch words enter English, sometimes that sound persists. At other times it ispronounced just like ll would be in an English word: that is, as \l \ . Some words—such as mantilla, tomatillo, amarillo, and caballero —even have two pronunciationsin English. Quesadilla , tortilla, and novillero always have the \y \ pronunciation inEnglish; chinchilla, otilla, vanilla, peccadillo, cedilla, and sarsaparilla always havethe \l \ pronunciation. Be on the lookout!

Note that, except or ll, double consonants in words rom Spanish are not verycommon. Bu aloand peccadillo represent exceptions. In Spanish, bu alo has onlyone and peccadillo has only one c. English spelling rules pre er two consonants asa signal that the previous vowel is short, as is the case in these words.

burritoembargo 1

chimichangagazpachomariachi 2

sombreroalligatorcanastabonanzachinchillamachismoenchilada

pueblohacienda

andangoquesadilla 3

fotillatornadofamenco 4

vigilanteadioscabanagorditapeccadillo

libustertortillavanillacilantro

estaanchovymesa 5

ramada juncoca eteriabongocastanets

mantilla 6

oreganolariatchalupabu alo 7

renegadelangostaalamobarriocedilla

Argentinebolivar

amarillocordovandesperadoempanadatomatillodiablopochismosierraoliobolero

juntaduenna

sassa raspunctiliosarsaparillacomandanteembarcaderorejoneador

novilleropicaresqueconquistadorrasgadovaquerocaballero

challenGe Words



93130

keY to exercIseskeY to exercIses

Words from Latin pages 3–5

1. The adjective is curricular.

2. English words rom Latin ending in xious include anxious, noxious, andobnoxious.

3. There are several such plurals inEnglish. The most common ones areprobably alumnus/alumni, nucleus/ nuclei, cactus/cacti, and ungus/ ungi.

4. The words are subject, reject, project, and object.

5. Some other words with a silent g include assign, benign, impugn,and reign.

Words from Arabicpages 6–7

1. The letter x represents two consonantsounds: \ks\ .

2. The \k\ sound is spelled with k (asin alkali ), c (as in carmine ), q (as inQatari ), que (as in mosque ), ch (as inalchemy ), and kh (as in mukhtar ).

Words from Asian Languages page 8

1. The sound is \ \ and is spelled withoo in oolong, mongoose, shampoo,typhoon, loot, and bamboo.

2. Long e (\ \ ) is spelled with y (in cushy and gunnysack ), ey (in chutney ), andi (in basmati, batik, gourami, jiva,and Holi ).

3. Bungalow probably got a w on theend because many other English wordsthat have the same nal sound end inow: ow, glow, blow, stow, etc.

Words from Frenchpages 9–11

1. The words are ca é and melee.

2. The \w\ sound is spelled with u in suave. In repertoire, boudoir, andcroissant the oi is pronounced \w \ .

3. The two words are mirror and miracle.

4. Some words ending with long a (\ \ )are entree, lycée, and soiree.

Some words ending with long e (\ \ )are agree, apogee, degree, disagree,lessee, pedigree, and re ugee.

The endings o the words divorcee and repartee can be pronounced witheither a long a (\ \ ) or a long e (\ \ ).

5. The three eponyms are leotard,clementine, and chauvinism.

Eponymspage 12

1. The six eponyms based on charactersrom Greek or Roman mythology are

narcissistic, tantalize, hector, vulcanize,cupid, and mentor.

2. Answers will vary; your teacher canhelp you.

Words from Germanpages 13–14

1. The breeds are drahthaar, poodle,

a enpinscher, and Doberman.2. The terminal sound \əl\ is spelled el

in the German style and le in themore English style.

3. The word autobahn has a moreanglicized pronunciation, probablybecause o the infuence o auto andautomobile.

Words from Slavic Languages page 15

1. The -nik su x occurs in beatnik, peacenik, re usenik, and in otherwords that people coin rom time totime, such as olknik and neatnik .

2. Cravat is the odd one out; it is theonly one o the group that did notenter English via Yiddish.

Words from Dutchpage 16

1. Cranberry, alpenglow, and smearcase are all part translations rom German.Grosbeak is rom French.

Words from Old Englishpages 17–19

1. arrow 2. marrow 3. sparrow 4. yarrow 5. shallow 6. tallow 7. mallow 8. allow 9. loathe 10. seethe 11. writhe 12. scythe

13. bristle 14. thistle 15. trestle 16. epistle

Words from New WorldLanguagespages 20–21

1. Pennyroyal, brooklime, and chickling all are results o olk etymology.

2. Catalpa and guava are romNew World languages.

Words from Japanesepage 22

1. Ginger and wok are not romJapanese. Notice that Japanesewords nearly always end with avowel sound or with \n\ .

2. matsutake: 4 syllableskamikaze: 4 syllablesnetsuke: 2 or 3 syllableswakame: 3 syllables

Words from Greekpages 23–25

The words provided or these exercisesare among the most common ones; youmay have thought o others.

1. catalysis, dialysis, paralysis

2. androgenous, misandry, androcracy

3. diadem, diagonal, diagram,diaphragm

4. isopropyl, isosceles, isotherm, isotope

5. pentagram, pentagon, pentameter,Pentateuch, Pentecost

6. decagon, hexagon,heptagon, pentagon,nonagon, octagon, orthogonal

7. hyperthermia, hypothermia, isotherm,thermometer

Words from Italianpages 26–27

1. The \w\ sound is spelled with u in segue.

2. A sound we associate with j is spelledwith g in adagio.

3. The reason is probably simply thatmany words in English, representingall parts o speech, end with y.

4. Il Messico is the Italian name orMexico.

Words from Spanishpages 28–29

1. The initial consonant sound is \h\ .

2. The standard Spanish alphabet usesk only to spell words borrowed romother languages.

3. Machismo is sometimes pronouncedwith a \k\ sound rather than a \ch\ sound.

4. The letter c has the \s \ sound incilantro , hacienda, and cedilla.

5. Words in English rom Arabic o tenborrow the de nite article al.

Be sure to visit www.myspellit.com orother activities, a list o “Words You Need

to Know,” and links to defnitions andpronunciations o words on the Spell It!study lists.



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More than 1150 words, divided into sectionsby language o origin

Basic study lists and special “challenge words”

Rules, tips, and guidelines or success ullyspelling words in English

Practice exercises to increase understandingo word origins

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