In recent years, an international team of linguists partnered with Merriam-Webster to analyze a decade’s worth of words.

Students fill the stage during the second round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center May 28, 2019 in National Harbor, Maryland. Students from across the country and around the world compete in the spelling competition, which started in 1925. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)The Scripps National Spelling Bee will return this year in a mostly virtual format, with the in-person competition limited to a dozen finalists who will gather on an ESPN campus at Walt Disney World in Florida, Scripps announced Monday. Instead of compressing the entire competition into a week — spellers routinely refer to Bee Week as a highlight of their young lives — the bee will be stretched over several weeks. Virtual format notwithstanding, the bee will return to its roots as a purely oral spelling competition.