The National Spelling Bee is upon us, an annual event that dates back to the Coolidge administration that has served as a defining moment of immortality for 91 victorious children.
 While the point of the Bee is to spell the words, not define them, half of the fun for the viewer is to get a taste of some of the more arcane elements of language. 
We went back through the history of Spelling Bee winners to find the coolest words that won a kid a trophy. 
Ordered sequentially by year:
2009: Laodician (adj.) – lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics
Spelled by Kavya Shivashankar.
2004: autocthonous (adj.) – formed or originating in the place where found, native 
Spelled by David Tidmarsh 
2002: prospicience (noun) – the act of looking forward, foresight

Spelled by Pratyush Buddiga 
1999: logorrhea (adj.) – excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness

Spelled by Nupur Lala 
1997: euonym (noun) – a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named
Spelled by Rebecca Sealfon 
1996:  vivisepulture (noun) – the act or practice of burying alive
Spelled by Wendy Guey 
1989: spoliator (noun) – One who plunders, pillages, despoils, or robs 
Spelled by Scott Isaacs 
 
1980: elucubrate (verb)- to solve, write or compose by working studiously at night.
Spelled by Jacques Bailly 
 
1962:  esquamulose (adj.) – Not covered in scales, or of scale like objects, a smooth skin
Spelled by Nettie Crawford and Michael Day
 
1961: smaragdine (adj.) Of or relating to emeralds, having the color of emeralds. 
Spelled by John Capehart  
 
1959: eudaemonic (adj.) – producing happiness, based on the idea of happiness as the proper end of conduct 
Spelled by Henry Feldman
 
1951: insouciant (adj.) –  lighthearted unconcern, nonchalance 
Spelled by Irving Belz