Edith Fuller, 5, will be the youngest person to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The home-schooled girl spelled “jnana” (a Sanskrit word that refers to an elevated state of knowledge) to win the regional bee in Tulsa, defeating competitors more than twice her age.
Edith spelled 37 words in five hours, including “sevruga (a type of caviar); virgule (an accent mark); Nisei (a child of Japanese immigrants who is born in the U.S.); jacamar (a long-billed bird); and alim (a Muslim scholar),” reports NPR. She also nailed “baedeker,” “odori” and “colloquial.”
Last summer, Edith surprised her parents by spelling “restaurant” correctly, her mother Annie, told the Tulsa World. After that, Edith began study words with her mother. If she misspelled a word, she’d look it up.
“Learning the words was so educational,” said Annie Fuller. “She was able to learn about different countries and cultures and different kinds of food.”