'Hallock' Finally Trips Up Geneva's Piper Winkler in National Spelling Bee

Winkler, 14, of Geneva and Elgin Academy, made the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. and can officially say she's among the 41 best in the nation for her age group.

According to reports in the Chicago Tribune, Kane County Chronicle and other publications, Winkler was eliminated Thursday in the semifinal round on the word "hallock."

But before elimination, she landed some monsters, including but not limited to "Romaji" and "ostreiform."

Just FYI, Romaji is "a method of writing Japanese in Roman characters," according to Merriam-Webster, which also adds on its online addition that "This word doesn't usually appear in our free dictionary, but the definition from our premium Unabridged Dictionary is offered here on a limited basis."

So Piper is spelling words they don't even bother with online. :)

The definition of "ostreiform" is—and we're not making this up—"shaped like an oyster."