p 3 r 1 e 1 l 1 i 1 m 3
6 letters · 10 points in Scrabble
Meaning
noun a minor match preceding the main event
noun an examination taken by graduate students to determine their fitness to continue
originClipping of preliminary. Sense 2 ("clipping of preliminary examination") was originally Oxford University slang, now in common use.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0