Zaki, who was last year's runner-up, had correctly spelled "Chaldee," a dialect of the Biblical Aramaic language, in the 20th round. But under spelling bee rules, Zaki needed to land one more word in a solo round to claim the trophy.

Faizan Zaki’s enthusiasm for spelling nearly got the better of him. Ultimately, his joyful approach made him the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. The favorite entering the bee after his runner-up finish last year — during which he never misspelled a word in a conventional spelling round,