The Scripps National Spelling Bee contest will accept “womyn” as a correct spelling of “women” in competition, and has included it in their practice word list, Fox News reported on Friday.
A spokesperson for the competition told the outlet that the words on the approved list come from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.
The spokesperson said:
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.
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 X account LibsofTikTok shared an image of the study list featuring the word “womyn.”
The list marked the word “women” with two asterisks noting that is the preferred spelling.
“You can’t make this up. Scripps National Spelling Bee Competetion says third graders can spell the word ‘women” as ‘womyn.’ A spelling bee,” the LibsofTikTok account said:
The Fox article noted the spelling bee’s national finals will take place in May.
In July 2022, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary amended its definition of “female” to include “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male,” Breitbart News reported at the time.
“The dictionary also has a separate entry for ‘gender identity’: ‘a person’s internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female,'” the outlet said.
Social media users shared their thoughts on the news regarding the spelling bee, one person writing, “This is what happens when agendas replace education.”
One commenter noted this Babylon Bee has come true:
“Wow. Can WOKE just die already,” another user said.
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