The word: "obtundent," which means "an agent that blunts pain."

Her spelling: "o-b-t-u-n-d-a-n-t."

Earlier, she correctly spelled "rendezvous," which means a meeting at a prearranged time and place, and during the first oral round, she quickly breezed through "cnidarian" without asking a question.

"I knew the word," she said later.

She scored 18 out of 25 on the first-round written test — three fewer points than her score on last year's written test but enough to advance.

Last year, Kaneshiro made it to the third round and tied for 72nd place, she said.