Bee Roots

Bee Roots for 2026-01-07

The table provides clues for the roots of words in today's NY Times Spelling Bee. You're responsible for prefixes, suffixes, tense changes, plurals, doubling consonants before suffixes, and alternate spellings of roots. An exception: since Sam won't allow S, when the root contains an S, the clue may be for a plural or suffixed form. "Mice" for example. If a clue isn't self-explanatory, try googling it. The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.

Past clues are available here

Today's puzzle

Letters: P/DELMNU

Words: 56

Points: 269

Pangrams: 1

Source: Amusing Planet

Table content

with first letter of answer

with first letter of answer and length

with first two letters of answer

with first two letters of answer and length

roots only

answers covered answer's first two letters answer's length clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)

3 DE 4,6,8 Not shallow

2 DE 6,8 Rely on, or singular of adult diaper brand, adverb made from the adjective form is a pangram

2 DU 4,6 Let something fall in a heap, verb; or a place for doing that (garbage …)

2 DU 4,5 Trick (… into)

1 DU 5 In music, rhythm based on two main beats to the measure

1 EP 4 Fencing sword

2 LU 4,6 What you get on your head after being struck

2 PE 6,7 Travel from town to town, especially with a carnival or circus, to sell things; Santa looked like someone who does this, just opening his pack

1 PE 4 Urinate, slang

2 PE 4,6 Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb

1 PE 4 Backside of a hammer

2 PE 4,6 Baby bird sound, Easter marshmallow, or a furtive look

1 PE 6 Tool for writing with ink, noun/verb; or small enclosure for keeping animals, noun/verb

2 PE 4,6 Literally, to hang; to await (a decision); usually has –ING suffix

1 PE 8 The thing that swings inside a grandfather clock; or any free-swinging weight attached to a fixed point (Foucault …), pangram

1 PE 6 Archaic for writer; compound made from “ink stick” & ♂

1 PE 5 Tube pasta, vodka optional

1 PE 6 Energy, liveliness, noun/verb

1 PE 6 Short section attached to the waistline of a blouse, jacket, or dress

1 PL 4 Make an emotional appeal

1 PL 6 General assembly of all members, especially of a legislative body, noun

1 PL 4 Juicy fruit; when dry it’s a prune

2 PL 5,6 Long soft feather

2 PL 5,7 Polite way of saying “fat”

2 PU 6,7 Small pool of rainwater on the ground, noun/verb

2 PU 4,5 Literary for “whimper” (usually ends in –ING)

2 PU 4,6 Tug on, verb

2 PU 4,6 Soft, wet, shapeless mass (“… Fiction” film), or floating bits of fruit in orange juice, noun/verb

2 PU 6,8 Hit repeatedly

2 PU 4,6 Device for putting air in tires or gas in cars, or slang for high-heeled shoe

1 PU 6 Joke exploiting different meanings of a word or its homophones, noun/verb

1 UM 5 baseball referee, shortened form, noun/verb

1 UN 8 Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb

2 UN 5,8 Tool for writing with ink, noun/verb; or small enclosure for keeping animals, noun/verb

1 UP 5 Toward a higher place, position, or volume (turn … the music), adv./prep./adj./noun/verb

2 UP 5,7 turn or knock something into a position with top and bottom reversed

answers covered	answer's first two letters	answer's length	clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
3	DE	4,6,8	Not shallow
2	DE	6,8	Rely on, or singular of adult diaper brand, adverb made from the adjective form is a pangram
2	DU	4,6	Let something fall in a heap, verb; or a place for doing that (garbage …)
2	DU	4,5	Trick (… into)
1	DU	5	In music, rhythm based on two main beats to the measure
1	EP	4	Fencing sword
2	LU	4,6	What you get on your head after being struck
2	PE	6,7	Travel from town to town, especially with a carnival or circus, to sell things; Santa looked like someone who does this, just opening his pack
1	PE	4	Urinate, slang
2	PE	4,6	Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb
1	PE	4	Backside of a hammer
2	PE	4,6	Baby bird sound, Easter marshmallow, or a furtive look
1	PE	6	Tool for writing with ink, noun/verb; or small enclosure for keeping animals, noun/verb
2	PE	4,6	Literally, to hang; to await (a decision); usually has –ING suffix
1	PE	8	The thing that swings inside a grandfather clock; or any free-swinging weight attached to a fixed point (Foucault …), pangram
1	PE	6	Archaic for writer; compound made from “ink stick” & ♂
1	PE	5	Tube pasta, vodka optional
1	PE	6	Energy, liveliness, noun/verb
1	PE	6	Short section attached to the waistline of a blouse, jacket, or dress
1	PL	4	Make an emotional appeal
1	PL	6	General assembly of all members, especially of a legislative body, noun
1	PL	4	Juicy fruit; when dry it’s a prune
2	PL	5,6	Long soft feather
2	PL	5,7	Polite way of saying “fat”
2	PU	6,7	Small pool of rainwater on the ground, noun/verb
2	PU	4,5	Literary for “whimper” (usually ends in –ING)
2	PU	4,6	Tug on, verb
2	PU	4,6	Soft, wet, shapeless mass (“… Fiction” film), or floating bits of fruit in orange juice, noun/verb
2	PU	6,8	Hit repeatedly
2	PU	4,6	Device for putting air in tires or gas in cars, or slang for high-heeled shoe
1	PU	6	Joke exploiting different meanings of a word or its homophones, noun/verb
1	UM	5	baseball referee, shortened form, noun/verb
1	UN	8	Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb
2	UN	5,8	Tool for writing with ink, noun/verb; or small enclosure for keeping animals, noun/verb
1	UP	5	Toward a higher place, position, or volume (turn … the music), adv./prep./adj./noun/verb
2	UP	5,7	turn or knock something into a position with top and bottom reversed

About this site

This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of 4,500 clues came from him, and they still make up about three quarters of the current clue set.

The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. As logophiles, we are pretty good at putting on prefixes and suffixes, changing tense, and forming plurals (including Latin plurals!). The clues cover root words, arranged alphabetically by root word, with a count of words in the puzzle that come from each root. For example, if a puzzle includes ROAM and ROAMING, there will be a clue for ROAM and a count of 2. The root may not appear in the puzzle at all; for example, the 2021-07-23 Bee included ICED, DEICE, and DEICED. For such a puzzle, the clue would be for ICE with a word count of 3.

The Bee Roots approach involves judgement sometimes. For example, if a puzzle includes LOVE, LOVED, and LOVELY, how many roots are needed to cover them? LOVE and LOVED share the root LOVE, certainly, but LOVELY is tricky. LOVE is part of its etymology, but by now, the word means "exquisitely beautiful," which is a lot farther from the meaning of LOVE than swithcing to past tense. I'm inclined to treat LOVE and LOVELY as separate roots. You may not agree, which is fine. Another thing we logophiles share is a LOVE of arguing about words on Twitter.

A few words can have one meaning as a suffixed form and another as a stand-alone word. EVENING, for example. In those cases I will use the meaning that I think is more common.

One last complication, until another one pops up: a few roots have multiple spellings, for example LOLLYGAG and LALLYGAG. Depending on the day's letters, and maybe even the editor's whims, one or both could be in the puzzle's answer list. With such roots, you could see a word count of 2, even if there are no applicable prefixes or suffixes.

I will do my best to keep this site up to date and helpful (I hope). Check it out, and tweet feedback to @donswartwout Tweet to @donswartwout