Welcome to The Word Explorer!
My name is Tara and I am a recent graduate of Duke University, with dual degrees in cultural anthropology and political science, and a minor in linguistics. Ten years ago, I started this blog to share my love of words with others and teach people about the intricacies of etymology and words across our beloved English language.
English borrows words from Latin, Ancient Greek, French, German and many other languages. Over half of the words in the English language come from Latin and Greek so knowledge of these two languages is particularly helpful. I studied Latin (7 years), Spanish (4 years), Hindi (2 years) and Ancient Greek (2 years).
At eight years old, I was the youngest competitor at the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee and my love of words and language led me to compete in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. I placed in the top ten in 2018 and each experience at the National Spelling Bee inspired me to continue exploring linguistics. In high school, I founded the Bluegrass Literacy Project (BLP) in 2018 as a way to give back to my community. BLP is an award winning 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving English language literacy among the youth of Kentucky. For more information on how to help literacy efforts in the Commonwealth, visit bluegrassliteracyproject.org.
For the past four years, I’ve served as a member of the National Spelling Bee’s College Crew, working on production and behind-the-scenes of the event itself. I hope this blog helps aspiring linguistics students and spellers explore the language in an accessible way. Are you ready to explore?
Thank you for visiting my blog — I hope you find your new favorite word while you’re here!
the word explorer 