The Winner of the 2006 Spelling Bee

Congratulations to 13-year-old Katharine "Kerry" Close of Spring Lake, N.J., who spelled ursprache—a word meaning "a parent language, especially one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages"—to win the 79th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, June 1, 2006.

Check out the words that made Katharine a champion—sign up for a 14-day free trial of our Web site: Merriam-Webster Unabridged.