Co-champions of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, from left, Shruthika Padhy, 13, of Cherry Hill, N.J., Erin Howard, 14, of Huntsville, Ala., Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of San Jose, Calif., Christopher Serrao, 13, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., Saketh Sundar, 13, of Clarksville, Md., Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Dallas, Texas, Rohan Raja, 13, of Irving, Texas, and Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Flower Mound, Texas, hold the trophy in Oxon Hill, Md.AP/Susan Walsh

This year's spelling bee had not one, but eight champions.

Each of the winners correctly spelled their given word: auslaut, erysipelas, bougainvillea, aiguillette, pendeloque, palama, cernuous, and odylic. A mix of adjectives and nouns, the words' definitions range from the webbing on the feet of aquatic birds (palama) to a genus of American shrubs (bougainvillea).

Since the spelling bee's inception in 1925, winners have spelled increasingly difficult words to earn the coveted trophy and $50,000 prize. The past 25 years - broadcasted live on ESPN and ABC - include a diverse group of dictionary entries, from medical jargon to political terminology.

This year, the Bee ran out of challenging words to give contestants, ending the final round with an "unprecedented" eight-way tie: Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja. The New York Times' Daniel Victor tweeted that the co-champions beat the dictionary.

Keep reading for a look at the winning words from the past quarter century, from "xanthosis" in 1995 to this year's eight.