So how do you spell "relief"? Or "monzonite"? Or "chonolith"?

After spelling all these words, as well as "aubade" (a musical piece sung at dawn) in the final round of competition, the Harvard "Hiv-ard" walked away with the first-place trophy in the Cambridge Family YMCA Spelling Bee last Thursday.

Harvard teammates Matthew A. Carter '99, Karen M. Paik '99 and Felicia Wu '98 said the YMCA orthographic hymenopterous insect (spelling bee) made for an exciting evening.

"It was just a lot of fun," Carter said yesterday.

The event included 26 teams, with three contestants each, who vied in the charity event that raised more than $7,000 for the YMCA Youth and Camp Programs in Cambridge.

Finishing third behind Harvard and MIT was a "proud" team of three men from the YMCA Central House, a temporary residence for people with histories of homelessness and substance abuse, according to Richard A. Foot, president of the city's YMCA.

"With MIT and Harvard in the first two places, they're in good company," Foot said.

For two of the Harvard contestants, Thursday's event was a reunion of sorts.

In a "gigantic coincidence," teammates Paik and Carter sat next to each other in the 1991 National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., according to Paik.

Carter said that the Cambridge contest was less stressful than the national contest, in which contestants competed amidst media scrutiny.

"It was no biggie," Carter said.

Still, the two-hour contest was no cake walk either.

"A couple of words threw us off because they were mispronounced," Carter said.

"One time one of our opponents spelled 'empennage' (the tail of an aircraft) as 'appendage,'" he said. "They had to give it to them because of the sound system."

"The mix of people was wonderful," said Foot. "It was a fundraiser for the YMCA but it was also a friendraiser."

Jackie Benson Jones, Harvard's senior consultant, said the University sponsored the contestants because the money would be donated to a worthwhile charity within Cambridge.

"Because Harvard is in the Cambridge community, we try to support events that benefit the people of Cambridge," she said.

Members of the Cambridge City Council entered the contest, too, but only managed to last a couple rounds.

The council's entry, led by Mayor Sheila T. Russell, Councillors Kathy L. Born and Henrietta A. Davis, team correctly spelled its first three words but stumbled on "terraceous" (the sloping contour of the land).

"But we all got it wrong, not just me," Russell joked