The Scripps National Spelling Bee has drawn attention after its approved list of study words for third-graders looking to compete in the upcoming spelling competition was shared online.
Study lists for the contest found on school district websites for the 2024-2025 school year list the feminist term, “womyn,” as an acceptable alternate spelling for “women” that students can use.
Schools must be enrolled in the Scripps National Spelling Bee program for their students to qualify for the national spelling competition.
The 2025 National Finals will be held next May and coincide with the competition’s 100th anniversary.
A spokesperson for Scripps explained to Fox News Digital that all words Scripps uses in its program are pulled from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, which has the alternate spelling for “women.”
“All of the words used in the Scripps National Spelling Bee program are pulled from our official dictionary, Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. During competition, our policy is to accept any correct spelling listed in our official dictionary that isn’t marked archaic or obsolete. The alternate spelling ‘womyn’ is therefore included on our study list because it is listed as an alternate spelling for ‘women’ in Merriam-Webster,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“In building our study lists, we aim to include alternate spellings for any words that have them listed in Merriam-Webster. The Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary is the final authority and sole source for the spelling of all words offered in competition,” the statement continued.
According to Merriam-Webster’s website, “womyn” is a variant spelling of women used in some feminist contexts, since it omits the “men” ending.
Regardless, the approval of the term by the spelling bee drew backlash online.
“You can’t make this up,” popular conservative account, LibsofTikTok, shared to her 3.8 million followers on X in a post that drew hundreds of comments.
“You have to be kidding,” Turning Point USA also reacted.
Another X user joked, “Omg the @TheBabylonBee skit came true,” along with a comedy sketch from the right-leaning parody website.
In the skit, a student spars with judges in a spelling bee over the definition of “woman,” in an apparent reference to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s comments during her 2022 confirmation hearings that she couldn’t define the term.
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