Weird and Wonderful Words from the Scrabble Championships

Nearly 10000 online viewers were glued to their computer screens last Saturday as the ultimate board-gaming event of the year came to its exciting climax when Paul Allan seized the title of British Scrabble Champion from his opponent Allan Simmons with the winning word ‘bandura’, a type of Ukrainian lute (86 points).

It’s a game that has caused many a family feud and sibling squabble and yet Scrabble remains a firm favourite in many households all over the world.

The game was originally invented in 1938 by out of work architect Alfred Mosher Butts during the Great Depression in America. Initially called ‘Criss-cross Words’, the game combined the vocabulary skills of crossword puzzles and anagrams, with an added element of chance. It is now available in 29 languages with around 150 million sets having been sold in 121 different countries.

For those of you who enjoy a good board game, Scrabble is the perfect way to put your English vocabulary to the test and learn some new (and slightly obscure) words along the way. Why not try out one of these lesser-known words of the English language that were played during the final of this year’s Championship:

Aecia: A fruiting body of a rust fungus

Atigi: A type of parka worn by the Inuit in Canada

Bandura: Ukrainian lute

Coniines: Alkaloid that makes up the poisonous part of hemlock

Enew: Falconry term for driving a bird into the water

Erev: The part of the day or the day immediately preceding the Jewish Sabbath or a Jewish holiday

Evet: The common newt

Jingo: A vociferous supporter of policy favouring war, especially in the name of patriotism

Khis: Plural of khi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet

Litu: Plural of Litas, a former silver coin and monetary unit of Lithuania

Ny: To approach

Qat: variant spelling of khat, an Arabian shrub whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant

Swarf: Fine chips or filings of stone, metal or other material produced by a machining operation

Ugh: Used to express disgust or horror

Vela: Plural of velum, a glass screen

Zeds: Name of the letter Z, plural

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/national-scrabble-championship-the-big-match-won-by-the-playing-of-a-ukrainian-lute-bandura-86-points-8919939.html