Over the last ten decades, students from all over the United States have made their way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. In most cases, only one winner walks away with the prize after spelling a little-known word. And in most cases, the rest of us walk away scratching our heads over the definition of the winning word.

The following quiz uses 10 words – one from each decade – from the Scripps National Spelling Bee winning word list. How does your vocabulary fare against these definitions? Would the American student vocabulary be aided by instruction in Greek and Latin?