Dev Shah, 14, from Largo, Fla., reacts as he wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Oxon Hill, Md.

Nick Wass/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nick Wass/AP

Dev Shah, 14, from Largo, Fla., reacts as he wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Oxon Hill, Md.

Nick Wass/AP

Dev Shah, a 14-year-old from Florida, has won the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

His winning word was “psammophile,” a noun that is used to describe animals and plants that prefer to live in sandy soil environments, according to Merriam-Webster.

Shah, an eighth-grader from Largo in the Tampa Bay area, also spelled “poliorcetics,” “aegagrus” and “schistorrhachis” correctly to take home the $50,000 cash prize.

This year’s bee was Shah’s third and final entry. Shah previously competed in 2019 and 2021. The bee began in 1925 and is open to students through the eighth grade.