This word was used in a championship spellingbee for highschool kids. Seems rough to me.
" Our goal is to
increase our knowledge and understanding of risks associated with
cryptosporidiosis. To achieve this, we will utilize a gnotobiotic pig model and
pursue three objectives: 1) Assess and compare the pathogenesis (infectivity
and virulence) of C.parvum in neonatal versus older gnotobiotic pigs; 2)
Evaluate the susceptibility and clinical responses of immunosuppressed
gnotobiotic pigs to C.parvum; and 3) Characterize the humoral (B cell),
cellular (T cell), and cytokine immune responses in gnotobiotic pigs with
cryptosporidiosis.

Definition:gnotobiotics:
The science of rearing laboratory animals the microfauna and microflora of which are
specifally known in their entirety.

Well, what does the root gnoto mean?

Dear WW: I don't gno exactly.

Only clue so far:"Here ‘note’ does not designate any type of indicative sign as does,
etymologically, the Latin noun nota; rather, it is a participle, that which is "noted" (gnoto) as opposed to that which is unnoticed—

is it not related to "gnosis"?

Indo-European Roots


ENTRY:
gn-
DEFINITION:
To know. Oldest form *ne3-, colored to *no3-, contracted to *n- (becoming
*gn- in centum languages).
Derivatives include know, cunning, uncouth, ignore, noble, diagnosis, and
narrate.
1. Variant form *gn-, contracted from *gn-. know; knowledge, acknowledge,
from Old English cnwan, to know, from Germanic *kn(w)-. 2. Zero-grade form
*g-. a. can1, con2, cunning, from Old English cunnan, to know, know how to, be
able to, from Germanic *kunnan (Old English first and third singular can from
Germanic *kann from o-grade *gon-); b. ken, kenning, from Old English cennan,
to declare, and Old Norse kenna, to know, name (in a formal poetic metaphor),
from Germanic causative verb *kannjan, to make known; c. couth; uncouth, from
Old English cth, known, well-known, usual, excellent, familiar, from Germanic
*kunthaz; d. kith and kin, from Old English cth(the), cththu, knowledge,
acquaintance, friendship, kinfolk, from Germanic *kunthith. 3. Suffixed form
*gn-sko-. notice, notify, notion, notorious; acquaint, cognition, cognizance,
connoisseur, incognito, quaint, recognize, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, from Latin
(g)nscere, cognscere, to get to know, get acquainted with. 4. Suffixed form
*gn-ro-. ignorant, ignore, from Latin ignrre, not to know, to disregard (i- for in-,
not; see ne). 5. Suffixed form *gn-dhli-. noble, from Latin nbilis, knowable,
known, famous, noble. 6. Reduplicated and suffixed form *gi-gn-sko-. gnome2,
gnomon, gnosis, Gnostic; agnosia, diagnosis, pathognomonic, physiognomy,
prognosis, from Greek gignskein, to know, think, judge (verbal adjective gntos,
known), with gnsis (< *gn-ti-), knowledge, inquiry, and gnmn, judge,
interpreter. 7. Suffixed zero-grade form *g-ro-. narrate, from Latin narrre (<
*gnarrre), to tell, relate, from gnrus, knowing, expert. 8. Suffixed zero-grade
form *g-ti-. Zend-Avesta, from Avestan zainti-, knowledge (remade from *zti-).
9. Traditionally but improbably referred here are: a. note; annotate, connote,
prothonotary, from Latin nota, a mark, note, sign, cipher, shorthand character; b.
norm, Norma, normal; abnormal, enormous, from Latin norma, carpenter's square,
rule, pattern, precept, possibly from an Etruscan borrowing of Greek gnmn,
carpenter's square, rule. (Pokorny 2. en- 376.)


Now we gno.

And thanks, wwh, for expanding our gnowledge.

And thanks, wwh, for expanding our gnowledge.

gno doubt!

Dear etaoin: Don't you agree that the word is a bit tough for a spelling bee?

I'll pipe in and say that I don't think the word's too hard if the spellers understand the root. But it's a pretty deep level of knowledge. Did any speller spell it right? Is there another word for speller?

Dear WW: ;my dictionary says "orthography" means spelling correctly. So an
"orthographologist" ought be a person who spells correctly.

Or an orthographist?

Spelling Bee becomes Orthographology Bee.

And a calligrapher is hard to find.

dear Bill: I wouldn't think that it would be too difficult for a adept speller. the gn beginning is fairly predictable in a bee, and the rest of the word is easy.
this coming from someone who in haste(in the 8th grade) spelled "graduate" garduate, and has never lived it down amongst my family... it was my first word, and though disqualified, I easily spelled the rest of the words in the bee. I was destroyed.

and not forget, gnomes, small dwarflike creatures, who know the earth's treasures are stored, and gnomon!

on a sundial, "gnomon knows the troubles i've seen"

Dear etaoin: unless the kids have access to some kind of collection of words likely to be used,
I think it is not the sort of word I would regard as reasonable. I am 85, had to take many
science courses to get into medical school, and read a dozen medical journals every week
but never heard of "gnotobiotic" before. It is obviously a sort of buzz word familiar only to a rather
restricted group of researchers. There must be thousands of words that would have been
more appropriate.

there was an article in the NY TIMES sunday magazine about a month ago, about a family that specialized in training for, and wining spelling bees.
the kids focus in on words with silent letters or other spelling anomalies (the kid in the article came in 3rd as i recall, failing on gneiss-- which made me smile, because it was i word i knew at her age (12 or so!) having learned that
the bronx is gneiss,
and manhattan is schists! (and that last one often was mis-spoken!)
the limestone layers, that make up milo's cave in the south, are almost completely eroded away up here.. only small outcropping remain.. (marble hill is one small limestone landmark)

they collect list of words used in other spelling bees, and generally go about learning how to spell obscure words like gnotobotic, to win. many times, they do not know the meaning of the words, just how to spell them. it seemed very sad, and very unlike the joy we take in words.

Dear of troy: I should think that the spellers would learn the meanings of the words,
since it ought to be a valuable mnemonic to help remember spelling, to have learned
the roots of the words. I have to recognize prefix, root, and suffix or I'm helpless.
Tnat's the way my mother taught me. I would not last long in a spelling bee.