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![Defence Defense Labour Labor British American spelling by country](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Defence_Defense_Labour_Labor_British_American_spelling_by_country.svg)
Despite the various
English dialects
Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For the classification of varieties of English only in terms of pronunciation, see regional accents of English.
Overview
Dialects can be defi ...
spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in
English orthography
English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
, the two most notable variations being British and American spelling. Many of
the differences between
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
date back to a time before
spelling
Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
standards were developed. For instance, some spellings seen as "American" today were once commonly used in Britain, and some spellings seen as "British" were once commonly used in the United States.
A "British standard" began to emerge following the 1755 publication of
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
's ''
A Dictionary of the English Language
''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
T ...
'', and an "American standard" started following the work of
Noah Webster
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
and, in particular, his ''
An American Dictionary of the English Language
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...
'', first published in 1828.
Webster's efforts at
spelling reform
A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples ar ...
were somewhat effective in his native country, resulting in certain well-known patterns of spelling differences between the American and British
varieties of English
Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For the classification of varieties of English only in terms of pronunciation, see regional accents of English.
Overview
Dialects can be defi ...
. However,
English-language spelling reform
For centuries, there have been movements to reform the spelling of the English language. It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Common motives for ...
has rarely been adopted otherwise. As a result, modern
English orthography
English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
varies only minimally between countries and is far from
phonemic
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
in any country.
Historical origins
![British spellings in NEJM 1814](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/British_spellings_in_NEJM_1814.jpg)
In the early 18th century,
English spelling
English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential
dictionaries
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, p ...
. Today's
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
spellings mostly follow Johnson's ''A Dictionary of the English Language'' (1755), while many
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
spellings follow Webster's ''An American Dictionary of the English Language'' ("ADEL", "Webster's Dictionary", 1828).
Webster was a proponent of
English spelling reform
For centuries, there have been movements to reform the spelling of the English language. It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Common motives for ...
for reasons both
philological
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...
and nationalistic. In ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (2008), John Algeo notes: "it is often assumed that characteristically American spellings were invented by Noah Webster. He was very influential in popularizing certain spellings in America, but he did not originate them. Rather
..he chose already existing options such as ''center, color'' and ''check'' for the simplicity, analogy or etymology".
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's first
folio
The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s, for example, used spellings such as ''center'' and ''color'' as much as ''centre'' and ''colour''.
[''-or''](_blank)
Online Etymology Dictionary. Webster did attempt to introduce some reformed spellings, as did the
Simplified Spelling Board
The Simplified Spelling Board was an American organization created in 1906 to reform the spelling of the English language, making it simpler and easier to learn, and eliminating many of what were considered to be its inconsistencies. The board oper ...
in the early 20th century, but most were not adopted. In Britain, the influence of those who preferred the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
(or
Anglo-French
Anglo-French (or sometimes Franco-British) may refer to:
*France–United Kingdom relations
*Anglo-Norman language or its decendants, varieties of French used in medieval England
*Anglo-Français and Français (hound), an ancient type of hunting d ...
) spellings of words proved to be decisive. Later spelling adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on today's American spellings and vice versa.
For the most part, the spelling systems of most
Commonwealth countries
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.
No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a po ...
and Ireland closely resemble the British system. In Canada, the spelling system can be said to follow both British and American forms,
[Clark, 2009.] and Canadians are somewhat more tolerant of foreign spellings when compared with other English-speaking nationalities.
Australian spelling
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Englis ...
mostly follows British spelling norms but has strayed slightly, with some American spellings incorporated as standard.
[''The Macquarie Dictionary'', Fourth Edition. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 2005.] New Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling, except in the word ''fiord'' (instead of ''fjord''). There is an increasing use of
macrons in words that originated in
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
and an unambiguous preference for ''-ise'' endings (see below).
Latin-derived spellings (often through Romance)
''-our'', ''-or''
Most words ending in an unstressed ''-our'' in British English (e.g., ) end in ''-or'' in American English (). Wherever the vowel is
unreduced in pronunciation (e.g., ''
contour
Contour may refer to:
* Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound
* Pitch contour
* Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system
* Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices
* Contour line, a curve along which the function ha ...
'', ''
paramour
Paramour may refer to:
* A secret lover
** Extramarital sex partner
** Intimate relationship hidden partner
* '' The Paramours'', a U.S. musical quintet
* ''Paramour'' (Cirque du Soleil), musical theatre Broadway residency show
* Paramour Mansi ...
'', ''
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
'', and ''
velour
Velour, occasionally velours, is a plush, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet or velveteen. It is usually made from cotton, but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Often, it contains a percentage of elastane, ...
''), the spelling is uniform everywhere.
Most words of this kind came from Latin, where the ending was spelled ''-or''. They were first adopted into English from early
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
, and the ending was spelled ''-our'', ''-or'' or ''-ur''.
[''Webster's Third,'' p. 24a.] After the
Norman conquest of England
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
, the ending became ''-our'' to match the later Old French spelling. The ''-our'' ending was used not only in new English borrowings, but was also applied to the earlier borrowings that had used ''-or''.
However, ''-or'' was still sometimes found.
The first three folios of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's plays used both spellings before they were standardised to ''-our'' in the Fourth Folio of 1685.
After the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, new borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original ''-or'' ending, and many words once ending in ''-our'' (for example, ''chancellour'' and ''governour'') reverted to ''-or''. Many words of the ''-our/or'' group do not have a Latin counterpart that ends in ''-or''; for example, ''armo(u)r'', ''behavio(u)r'', ''harbo(u)r'', ''neighbo(u)r''; also ''
arbo(u)r'', meaning "shelter", though senses "tree" and "tool" are always ''
arbor'', a
false cognate
False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For example, the Engli ...
of the other word. Some 16th- and early 17th-century British scholars indeed insisted that ''-or'' be used for words from Latin (e.g., ')
and ''-our'' for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not clear, and therefore some scholars advocated ''-or'' only and others ''-our'' only.
Webster's 1828 dictionary had only ''-or'' and is given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the United States. By contrast, Johnson's 1755 (pre-U.S. independence and establishment) dictionary used ''-our'' for all words still so spelled in Britain (like ''colour''), but also for words where the ''u'' has since been dropped: ''ambassadour'', ''emperour'', ''governour'', ''inferiour'', ''perturbatour'', ''superiour''; ''errour'', ''horrour'', ''mirrour'', ''tenour'', ''terrour'', ''tremour''. Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform, but chose the spelling best derived, as he saw it, from among the variations in his sources. He preferred French over Latin spellings because, as he put it, "the French generally supplied us". English speakers who moved to America took these preferences with them. In the early 20th century,
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
notes that "' appears in the 1776
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
, but it seems to have been put there rather by accident than by design". In
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
's original draft it is spelled "honour". In Britain, examples of rarely appear in
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
court records from the 17th and 18th centuries, whereas there are thousands of examples of their ''-our'' counterparts. One notable exception is '. ' and ' were equally frequent in Britain until the 17th century; ''honor'' only exists in the UK now as the spelling of ''
Honor Oak
Honor Oak is an inner suburban area principally of the London Borough of Lewisham, with part in the London Borough of Southwark. It is named after the oak tree on One Tree Hill that Elizabeth I is reputed to have picnicked under.
Overview
One Tr ...
'', a district of London and the occasional given name
Honor
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
.
Derivatives and inflected forms
In derivatives and
inflected
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...
forms of the ''-our/or'' words, British usage depends on the nature of the
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
used. The ''u'' is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (for example in ) and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been adopted into English (for example in ). However, before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the ''u'':
* may be dropped, for example in ''
honorary'', ''
honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
'', ''
humorist
A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...
'', ''
humorous
Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in th ...
'', ''
invigorate'', ''
laborious'', and ''
vigorous'';
* may be either dropped or kept, for example in ''colo(u)ration'' and ''colo(u)rize ''or'' colourise''; or
* may be kept, for example in '.
In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all cases (for example, ', ' etc.) since the ''u'' is absent to begin with.
Exceptions
American usage, in most cases, keeps the ''u'' in the word ''
glamour'', which comes from
Scots, not Latin or French. ' is sometimes used in imitation of the spelling reform of other ''-our'' words to ''-or''. Nevertheless, the adjective ''
glamorous'' often drops the first "u". ' is a somewhat common variant of ' in the US. The British spelling is very common for ' (and ') in the formal language of
wedding invitation
A wedding invitation is a letter asking the recipient to attend a wedding. It is typically written in the formal, third-person language and mailed five to eight weeks before the wedding date.
Like any other invitation, it is the privilege and d ...
s in the US. The name of the has a ''u'' in it because the
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
was named after British
Captain James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
's ship, . The (former) special car on
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's ''
Coast Starlight
The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's formati ...
'' train is known as the
Pacific Parlour
The Hi-Level was a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used in the United States. Car types included coaches, dining cars, and lounge cars; a sleeping car variant was considered but never produced. Most passenger spaces were on the ...
car, not ''Pacific Parlor''.
Proper name
A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', '' Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
s such as ''
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
'' or ''
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
'' are usually spelled according to their native-variety spelling vocabulary.
The name of the herb ''
savory'' is spelled thus everywhere, although the related adjective ''savo(u)ry'', like ''savo(u)r'', has a ''u'' in the UK. ''Honor'' (the name) and ''arbor'' (the tool) have ''-or'' in Britain, as mentioned above, as does the word ''pallor''. As a general noun, ''
rigour
Rigour (British English) or rigor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) describes a condition of stiffness or strictness. These constraints may be environmentally imposed, su ...
'' has a ''u'' in the UK; the medical term ''
rigor
Rigour (British English) or rigor (American English; see spelling differences) describes a condition of stiffness or strictness. These constraints may be environmentally imposed, such as "the rigours of famine"; logically imposed, such as ma ...
'' (sometimes ) does not, such as in ''rigor mortis'', which is Latin. Derivations of ''rigour''/''rigor'' such as ''rigorous'', however, are typically spelled without a ''u'', even in the UK. Words with the ending ''-irior'', ''-erior'' or similar are spelled thus everywhere.
The word ''
armour
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
'' was once somewhat common in American usage but has disappeared except in some brand names such as
Under Armour
Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European hea ...
.
The agentive suffix ''-or'' (''separator'', ''elevator'', ''translator'', ''animator'', etc.) is spelled thus both in American and British English.
Commonwealth usage
Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage.
Canadian English
Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...
most commonly uses the ''-our'' ending and ''-our-'' in derivatives and inflected forms. However, owing to the close historic, economic, and cultural relationship with the United States, ''-or'' endings are also sometimes used. Throughout the late 19th and early to mid-20th century, most Canadian newspapers chose to use the American usage of ''-or'' endings, originally to save time and money in the era of manual
movable type
Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...
.
However, in the 1990s, the majority of Canadian newspapers officially updated their spelling policies to the British usage of ''-our''. This coincided with a renewed interest in Canadian English, and the release of the updated ''
Gage Canadian Dictionary
The ''Gage Canadian Dictionary'' is a dictionary for Canadian English published by Gage Publishers in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The dictionary contains over 140,000 entry words with definitions, International Phonetic Alphabet pronun ...
'' in 1997 and the first ''
Canadian Oxford Dictionary
The ''Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Canadian English. First published by Oxford University Press Canada in 1998, it became a well-known reference for Canadian English.
The second edition, published in 2004, contains about 300 ...
'' in 1998. Historically, most libraries and educational institutions in Canada have supported the use of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' rather than the American ''Webster's Dictionary''. Today, the use of a distinctive set of Canadian English spellings is viewed by many Canadians as one of the unique aspects of Canadian culture (especially when compared to the United States).
In Australia, ''-or'' endings enjoyed some use throughout the 19th century and in the early 20th century. Like Canada, though, most major Australian newspapers have switched from "''-or''" endings to "''-our''" endings. The "''-our''" spelling is taught in schools nationwide as part of the Australian curriculum. The most notable countrywide use of the ''-or'' ending is for one of the country's major political parties, the , which was originally called "the Australian Labour Party" (name adopted in 1908), but was frequently referred to as both "Labour" and "Labor". The "Labor" was adopted from 1912 onward due to the influence of the and
King O'Malley
King O'Malley (2 July 1858? – 20 December 1953) was an American-born Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917, and served two terms as Minister for Home Affairs (1910–1913; 1915–16). He is remember ...
. On top of that, some place names in South Australia such as
Victor Harbor, Franklin Harbor or Outer Harbor are usually spelled with the -or spellings. Aside from that, ''-our'' is now almost universal in Australia but the ''-or'' endings remain a minority variant.
New Zealand English
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, while sharing some words and syntax with
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...
, follows British usage.
''-re'', ''-er''
In British English, some words from French, Latin or Greek end with a consonant followed by an unstressed ''-re'' (pronounced ). In modern American English, most of these words have the ending ''-er''. The difference is most common for words ending ''-bre'' or ''-tre'': British spellings all have ''-er'' in American spelling.
In Britain, both ''-re'' and ''-er'' spellings were common before
Johnson's 1755 dictionary was published. Following this, ''-re'' became the most common usage in Britain. In the United States, following the publication of ''
Webster's Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
'' in the early 19th century, American English became more standardized, exclusively using the ''-er'' spelling.
In addition, spelling of some words have been changed from ''-re'' to ''-er'' in both varieties. These include ''
chapter'', ''
December
December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the last of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
December got its name from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was or ...
'', ''
disaster
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...
'', ''
enter'', ''
filter
Filter, filtering or filters may refer to:
Science and technology
Computing
* Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming
* Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream
* Filter (video), a software component tha ...
'', ''
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
'', ''
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
'', ''
minister'', ''
monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
'', ''
November
November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, the fourth and last of four months to have a length of 30 days and the fifth and last of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. No ...
'', ''
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
'', ''
October
October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct ...
'', ''
offer
Offer or offers may refer to:
People
* Ofer Eshed or Offer Eshed (1942-2007), Israeli basketball player
* Offer Nissim (born 1964), Israeli house DJ
* Avner Offer, economic historian
* Dick Offer, English rower
* Jack Offer, English rower
* Steve ...
'', ''
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...
'', ''
powder
A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...
'', ''
proper
Proper may refer to:
Mathematics
* Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact
* Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...
'', ''
September
September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...
'', ''
sober
In cryptography, SOBER is a family of stream ciphers initially designed by Greg Rose of QUALCOMM Australia starting in 1997. The name is a contrived acronym for ''S''eventeen ''O''ctet ''B''yte ''E''nabled ''R''egister. Initially the cipher wa ...
'' and ''
tender''. Words using the ''"-meter"'' suffix (from Ancient Greek -
μέτρον ''métron'', via French ''
-mètre'') normally had the ''-re'' spelling from earliest use in English but were superseded by ''-er''. Examples include ''
thermometer
A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a merc ...
'' and ''
barometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
''.
The ''e'' preceding the ''r'' is kept in American-inflected forms of nouns and verbs, for example, , which are respectively in British English. According to the ''OED'', ' is a ''"word ... of 3 syllables (in careful pronunciation)"'' (i.e., ), yet there is no vowel in the spelling corresponding to the second syllable (). The OED third edition (revised entry of June 2016) allows either two or three syllables. On the
Oxford Dictionaries Online
Lexico was a dictionary website that provided a collection of English and Spanish dictionaries produced by Oxford University Press (OUP), the publishing house of the University of Oxford. While the dictionary content on Lexico came from OUP, th ...
website, the three-syllable version is listed only as the American pronunciation of ''centering''. The ''e'' is dropped for other derivations, for example, ''central'', ''fibrous'', ''spectral''. But, the existence of related words without ''e'' before the ''r'' is not proof for the existence of an ''-re'' British spelling: for example, ''entry'' and ''entrance'' come from ''enter'', which has not been spelled ''entre'' for centuries.
The difference relates only to root words; ''-er'' rather than ''-re'' is universal as a suffix for agentive (''reader'', ''user'', ''winner'') and comparative (''louder'', ''nicer'') forms. One outcome is the British distinction of ''
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
'' for a
measuring instrument
A measuring instrument is a device to measure a physical quantity. In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Establ ...
from ' for the unit of length. But, while "" is often spelled as ''-re'',
pentameter
Pentameter ( grc, πεντάμετρος, 'measuring five ( feet)') is a poetic meter. А poem is said to be written in a particular pentameter when the lines of the poem have the length of five feet, where a 'foot' is a combination of a particul ...
,
hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...
, etc. are always ''-er''.
Exceptions
Many other words have ''-er'' in British English. These include Germanic words, such as ''anger'', ''mother'', ''timber'' and ''water'', and such Romance-derived words as ''danger'', ''quarter'' and ''river''.
The ending ''-cre'', as in ''acre'',
[Although ''acre'' was spelled ''æcer'' in Old English and ''aker'' in ]Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
, the ''acre'' spelling of Middle French
Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which:
* the French language became clearly distinguished from t ...
was introduced in the 15th century. Similarly, ''loover'' was respelled in the 17th century by influence of the unrelated Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. (See ''OED'', s.v. ''acre'' and ''louvre'') ''
lucre'', ''
massacre
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
'', and ''
mediocre'', is used in both British and American English to show that the ''c'' is pronounced rather than . The spellings ''euchre'' and ''ogre'' are also the same in both British and American English.
''
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
'' and its associated adjective ''
fiery
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are ...
'' are the same in both British and American English, although the noun was spelled ''fier'' in Old and Middle English.
' is the prevailing American spelling used to refer to both the dramatic arts and buildings where stage performances and screenings of films take place (i.e., ""); for example, a national newspaper such as ''The New York Times'' would use ' in its entertainment section. However, the spelling ''
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
'' appears in the names of many New York City theatres on Broadway (cf. Broadway theatre) and elsewhere in the United States. In 2003, the American National Theatre was referred to by ''The New York Times'' as the "American National ", but the organization uses "re" in the spelling of its name.
The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
in Washington, D.C. has the more common American spelling ' in its references to The Eisenhower Theater, part of the Kennedy Center.
Some cinemas outside New York also use the ''theatre'' spelling. (The word "theater" in American English is a place where both stage performances and screenings of films take place, but in British English a "theatre" is where stage performances take place but not film screenings – these take place in a cinema.)
In the United States, the spelling ''theatre'' is sometimes used when referring to the art form of theatre, while the building itself, as noted above, generally is spelled ''theater''. For example, the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
has a "Department of ''Theatre'' and Drama", which offers courses that lead to the "Bachelor of Arts in ''Theatre''", and whose professed aim is "to prepare our graduate students for successful 21st Century careers in the ''theatre'' both as practitioners and scholars".
Some placenames in the United States use ''
Centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
'' in their names. Examples include the
Stonebriar Centre
Stonebriar Centre, commonly referred to as Stonebriar Mall, is a mid-range shopping mall located at the intersection of Preston Road ( SH 289) and the Sam Rayburn Tollway ( SH 121) in Frisco, Texas, U.S. It is currently anchored by Dick's Sportin ...
mall, the cities of
Rockville Centre
Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census.
Histor ...
and
Centreville,
Centre County
Centre County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,172. Its county seat is Bellefonte. Centre County comprises the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The lands ...
and
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...
. Sometimes, these places were named before spelling changes but more often the spelling serves as an affectation.
Proper name
A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', '' Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
s are usually spelled according to their native-variety spelling vocabulary; so, for instance, although ''Peter'' is the usual form of the male given name, as a surname both the spellings ''Peter'' and ''Petre'' (the latter notably borne by a British
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
) are found.
For British ', the American practice varies: the ''
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...
'' prefers the ''-re'' spelling, but ''
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is an American English, American dictionary of English published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. ...
'' prefers the ''-er'' spelling.
More recent French loanwords keep the ''-re'' spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used ( rather than ), as with ''
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
'', ''
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
'' and ''
oeuvre''. However, the unstressed pronunciation of an ''-er'' ending is used with some words, including ''
cadre
Cadre may refer to:
*Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff
*Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...
'', ''
macabre
In works of art, the adjective macabre ( or ; ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in natu ...
'', ''
maître d'
''Maître'' (spelled ''Maitre'' according to post-1990 spelling rules) is a commonly used honorific for lawyers, judicial officers and notaries in France, Belgium, Switzerland and French-speaking parts of Canada. It is often written in its abbrev ...
'',
Notre Dame, ''
piastre
The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venice, Venetian traders in the ...
'', and ''
timbre
In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
''.
Commonwealth usage
The ''-re'' endings are mostly standard throughout the Commonwealth. The ''-er'' spellings are recognized as minor variants in Canada, partly due to United States influence. They are sometimes used in proper names (such as Toronto's controversially named
Centerpoint Mall).
''-ce'', ''-se''
For ''
advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
''/''
advise'' and ''
device''/''
devise
Devise may refer to:
* To invent something
* A disposal of real property in a will and testament, or the property itself which has been disposed of
* Devise, Somme
See also
* Device (disambiguation)
* Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civ ...
'', American English and British English both keep the noun–verb distinction both graphically and phonetically (where the pronunciation is - for the noun and - for the verb). For ''
licence
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
/
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
'' or ''
practice/
practise'', British English also keeps the noun–verb distinction graphically (although phonetically the two words in each pair are
homophone
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
s with - pronunciation). On the other hand, American English uses ''
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
'' and ''
practice'' for both nouns and verbs (with - pronunciation in both cases too).
American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for ''
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
'' and ''
offense'', which are ''
defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
'' and ''
offence'' in British English. Likewise, there are the American ''
pretense'' and British ''
pretence
Pretense or pretence may refer to:
* pretext
* pretexting (social engineering)
* "Pretense" (''Stargate SG-1''), an episode of ''Stargate SG-1''
* "Pretense", a song by Knuckle Puck from their 2015 album '' Copacetic''
* "Pretence", a song by Joli ...
''; but derivatives such as ''
defensive
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense indust ...
'', ''
offensive
Offensive may refer to:
* Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative
* Offensive (military), an attack
* Offensive language
** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...
'', and ''
pretension'' are always thus spelled in both systems.
Australian and Canadian usage generally follows British.
''-xion'', ''-ction''
The spelling ''
connexion
Connexion is a variant spelling of connection and may refer to:
Technology and Internet
* Connexion by Boeing, an in-flight online connectivity service
* Connexions (now called OpenStax CNX), a repository of open educational resources started a ...
'' is now rare in everyday British usage, its use lessening as knowledge of Latin attenuates,
and it has never been used in the US: the more common ''connection'' has become the standard worldwide. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' the older spelling is more etymologically conservative, since the original Latin word had ''-xio-''. The American usage comes from
Webster
Webster may refer to:
People
*Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname
*Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name
Places Canada
*Webster, Alberta
*Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario
United State ...
, who abandoned ''-xion'' and preferred ''-ction''. ''Connexion'' was still the house style of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' of London until the 1980s and was still used by
Post Office Telecommunications
Post Office Telecommunications was set up as a separate department of the UK Post Office, in October 1969. The Post Office Act 1969 was passed to provide for greater efficiency in post and telephone services; rather than run a range of services, ...
for its telephone services in the 1970s, but had by then been overtaken by ''connection'' in regular usage (for example, in more popular newspapers). ''Connexion'' (and its derivatives ''connexional'' and ''connexionalism'') is still in use by the
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, an ...
to refer to the whole church as opposed to its constituent districts, circuits and local churches, whereas the US-majority
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
uses ''Connection''.
''Complexion'' (which comes from ''complex'') is standard worldwide and ''complection'' is rare. However, the adjective ''complected'' (as in "dark-complected"), although sometimes proscribed, is on equal ground in the US with ''complexioned.'' It is not used in this way in the UK, although there exists a rare alternative meaning of ''complicated''.
In some cases, words with "old-fashioned" spellings are retained widely in the US for historical reasons (cf.
connexionalism
Connexionalism, also spelled connectionalism, is the theological understanding and foundation of Methodist ecclesiastical polity, as practised in the Methodist Church in Britain, Methodist Church in Ireland, United Methodist Church, Free Methodi ...
).
Greek-derived and Latin-derived spellings
''ae'' and ''oe''
Many words, especially medical words, that are written with ''ae/æ'' or ''oe/œ'' in British English are written with just an ''e'' in American English. The sounds in question are or (or, unstressed, , or ). Examples (with non-American letter in bold): ''
aeon'', ''
anaemia'', ''
anaesthesia'', ''
caecum'', ''
caesium'', ''
coeliac'', ''
diarrhoea'', ''
encyclopaedia'', ''
faeces'', ''
foetal'', ''
gynaecology'', ''
haemoglobin'', ''
haemophilia'', ''
leukaemia'', ''
oesophagus'', ''
oestrogen'', ''
orthopaedic'', ''
palaeontology'', ''
paediatric'', ''
paedophile''. ''
Oenology
Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...
'' is acceptable in American English but is deemed a minor variant of ''
enology
Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...
'', whereas although ''archeology'' and ''ameba'' exist in American English, the British versions ''
amoeba
An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...
'' and ''
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
'' are more common. The chemical ''
haem
Heme, or haem (pronounced / hi:m/ ), is a precursor to hemoglobin, which is necessary to bind oxygen in the bloodstream. Heme is biosynthesized in both the bone marrow and the liver.
In biochemical terms, heme is a coordination complex "consist ...
'' (named as a shortening of ''
haemoglobin'') is spelled ''heme'' in American English, to avoid confusion with ''hem''.
Canadian English mostly follows American English in this respect, although it is split on ''gynecology'' (e.g.
Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) is a national medical society in Canada, representing over 4,000 obstetricians/gynaecologists, family physicians, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals in the field of s ...
vs. the
Canadian Medical Association
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA; french: Association médicale canadienne, AMC) is a national, voluntary association of physicians and medical learners that advocates on national health matters. Its primary mandate is to drive positive ch ...
's Canadian specialty profile of ''Obstetrics/gynecology''). ''Pediatrician'' is preferred roughly 10 to 1 over ''paediatrician'', while ''foetal'' and ''oestrogen'' are similarly uncommon.
Words that can be spelled either way in American English include ''aesthetics'' and ''archaeology'' (which usually prevail over ''esthetics'' and ''archeology''),
as well as ''
palaestra'', for which the simplified form ''palestra'' is described by
Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States.
In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
as "chiefly Brit
sh"
Words that can be spelled either way in British English include ''chamaeleon'', ''encyclopaedia'', ''homoeopathy'', ''mediaeval'' (a minor variant in both AmE and BrE), ''foetid'' and ''foetus''. The spellings ''foetus'' and ''foetal'' are Britishisms based on a mistaken etymology.
The etymologically correct original spelling ''fetus'' reflects the Latin original and is the standard spelling in medical journals worldwide; the Oxford English Dictionary notes that "In Latin manuscripts both ''fētus'' and ''foetus'' are used".
<αι> and <οι>, which are
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
s in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, were
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
into Latin as
and . The ligatures æ and œ were introduced when the sounds became monophthong
A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...
s, and later applied to words not of Greek origin, in both Latin (for example, ''cœli'') and French (for example, ''œuvre''). In English, which has adopted words from all three languages, it is now usual to replace ''Æ/æ'' with ''Ae/ae'' and ''Œ/œ'' with ''Oe/oe''. In many words, the digraph has been reduced to a lone ''e'' in all varieties of English: for example, ''oeconomics'', ''praemium'', and ''aenigma''. In others, it is kept in all varieties: for example, ''phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
'', and usually ''subpoena'', but Phenix in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. This is especially true of names: '' Aegean'' (the sea), ''Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
'', ''Oedipus
Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...
'', ''Phoebe'', etc. There is no reduction of Latin -ae plurals (e.g., ''larvae''); nor where the digraph / does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, ''maelstrom
Maelstrom may refer to:
* Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool
** originally the Moskstraumen in English
Amusement rides
* Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...
'', ''toe''. The British form ''aeroplane
An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...
'' is an instance (compare other ''aero-'' words such as ''aerosol
An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog o ...
''). The now chiefly North American ''airplane'' is not a respelling but a recoining, modelled after ''airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
'' and ''aircraft''. The word ''airplane'' dates from 1907, at which time the prefix ''aero-'' was trisyllabic, often written ''aëro-''.
Commonwealth usage
In Canada, ''e'' is generally preferred over ''oe'' and often over ''ae'', but ''oe'' and ''ae'' are sometimes found in academic and scientific writing as well as government publications (for example the fee schedule of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan
The Ontario Health Insurance Plan ( French: ''Assurance-Santé de l'Ontario''), commonly known in both official languages by the acronym OHIP (pronounced ), is the government- run health insurance plan for the Canadian province of Ontario. OHI ...
) and some words such as ''palaeontology'' or ''aeon''. In Australia, it can go either way such being ''medieval'' is spelt with the ''e'' rather than ''ae'', as with American usage along with numerous other words such as ''eon'' or ''fetus'',["The Macquarie Dictionary", 8th Edition. Macquarie Dictionary Publishers, 2020.] while other words such as ''oestrogen'' or ''paediatrician'' go the British way. The ''Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand En ...
'' also notes a growing tendency towards replacing ''ae'' and ''oe'' with ''e'' worldwide and with the exception of manoeuvre, all British or American spellings are acceptable variants. Elsewhere, the British usage prevails, but the spellings with just ''e'' are increasingly used. ''Manoeuvre'' is the only spelling in Australia, and the most common one in Canada, where ''maneuver'' and ''manoeuver'' are also sometimes found.
Greek-derived spellings (often through Latin and Romance)
''-ise'', ''-ize'' (''-isation'', ''-ization'')
Origin and recommendations
The '' -ize'' spelling is often incorrectly seen as an Americanism in Britain. It has been in use since the 15th century, predating the ''-ise
Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and American ...
'' spelling by over a century. The verb-forming suffix ''-ize'' comes directly from Ancient Greek () or Late Latin , while ''-ise'' comes via French . The ''Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' () recommends ''-ize'' and lists the ''-ise'' form as an alternative.[''Oxford English Dictionary'' "-ise1"]
Publications by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(OUP)—such as Henry Watson Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler (10 March 1858 – 26 December 1933) was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language. He is notable for both ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' and his work on the ''Con ...
's ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like words ...
'', ''Hart's Rules
''Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford''—today published under the short title ''New Hart's Rules''—is an authoritative reference book and style guide published in England by Oxford University Press (OUP ...
'',[ and ''The Oxford Guide to English Usage''—also recommend ''-ize''. However, Robert Allan's ''Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage'' considers either spelling to be acceptable anywhere but the U.S.
]
Usage
American spelling avoids ''-ise'' endings in words like ''organize'', '' realize'' and ''recognize''.
British spelling mostly uses ''-ise'' (''organise'', '' realise'', ''recognise''), though ''-ize'' is sometimes used.[ The ratio between ''-ise'' and ''-ize'' stood at 3:2 in the ]British National Corpus
The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100-million-word text corpus of samples of written and spoken English from a wide range of sources. The corpus covers British English of the late 20th century from a wide variety of genres, with the intention ...
up to 2002. The spelling ''-ise'' is more commonly used in UK mass media and newspapers,[ including '']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' (which switched conventions in 1992),[Richard Dixon]
"Questions answered"
''The Times'', 13 January 2004. ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' and the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. The
Government of the United Kingdom
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...
additionally uses ''-ise'', stating "do not use Americanisms" justifying that the spelling "is often seen as such". The ''-ize'' form is known as
Oxford spelling
Oxford spelling (also ''Oxford English Dictionary'' spelling, Oxford style, or Oxford English spelling) is a spelling standard, named after its use by the University of Oxford, that prescribes the use of British spelling in combination with the ...
and is used in publications of the Oxford University Press, most notably the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', and of other academic publishers such as ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', the ''
Biochemical Journal
The ''Biochemical Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology. It is published by Portland Press and was established in 1906.
History
The journal was established i ...
'' and ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
''. It can be identified using the
IETF language tag
An IETF BCP 47 language tag is a standardized code or tag that is used to identify human languages in the Internet. The tag structure has been standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in ''Best Current Practice (BCP) 47''; the su ...
en-GB-oxendict (or, historically, by en-GB-oed).
In Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand ''-ise'' spellings strongly prevail: the ''-ise'' form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the ''
Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand En ...
''.
In Canada, the ''-ize'' ending is more common, although the ''Ontario Public School Spelling Book'' spelt most words in the ''-ize'' form, but allowed for duality with a page insert as late as the 1970s, noting: though the ''-ize'' spelling was in fact the convention used in the
''OED'', that a choice to spell such words in the ''-ise'' form was ''a matter of personal preference'', however a ''pupil'' having made the decision, one way or the other, thereafter ought to write uniformly not only for a given word, but to apply that same uniformity consistently for all words where the option is found. Just as with
''-yze'' spellings, however, in Canada the ''ize'' form remains the preferred or more common spelling, though both can still be found, yet the ''-ise'' variation, once more common amongst older Canadians, is increasingly employed less often in favour of the ''-ize'' spelling. (The alternate convention offered as a matter of choice may have been due to the fact that although there were an increasing number of American and British based dictionaries with Canadian Editions by the late 1970s, these were largely only supplemental in terms of vocabulary with subsequent definitions. It wasn't until the mid-1990s that Canadian based dictionaries became increasingly common.)
Worldwide, ''-ize'' endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organizations, such as
United Nations Organization
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizin ...
s (such as the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
and the
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...
) and the
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
(but not by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...
). The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
's style guides require the usage of -''ise''.
Proofreaders at the EU's Publications Office ensure consistent spelling in official publications such as the ''
Official Journal of the European Union
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...
'' (where legislation and other official documents are published), but the ''-ize'' spelling may be found in other documents.
The same applies to
inflections
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and def ...
and derivations such as ''
colonised
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
''/''
colonized
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
'' and ''modernisation''/''modernization''.
Exceptions
* Some verbs take only an ''-ize'' form worldwide. In these, ''-ize'' is not a suffix, so does not ultimately come from Ancient Greek : for example, ''capsize'', ''seize'' (except in the legal phrases ''to be
seised of'' or ''to stand seised to''), ''size'' and ''prize'' (meaning ''value'', as opposed to the ''prise'' that means ''pry'').
* Some verbs take only ''-s-'' worldwide: ''advertise'', ''advise'', ''arise'', ''chastise'', ''circumcise'', ''comprise'', ''compromise'', ''demise'', ''despise'', ''devise'', ''disguise'', ''excise'', ''exercise'', ''franchise'', ''guise'', ''improvise'', ''incise'', ''reprise'', ''revise'', ''rise'', ''supervise'', ''surmise'', ''surprise'', ''televise'', and ''wise''. (In a few of these, ''-ise'' is not a suffix, while some have an ''-ise'' suffix with a different etymology, and the rest derive from .)
* Some words spelled with ''-ize'' in American English are
not used in British English. For example, from the noun ''
burglar
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...
'', the usual verb is formed by suffixation in American English (''burglarize'') but
back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...
in British English (''burgle'').
* Conversely, the verb ''to prise'' (meaning "to force" or "to lever") is rarely used in North American English:
''pry'' is instead used, a back-formation from or alteration of ''prise'' to avoid confusion with the more common noun "prize". When it is used in Canada, it is spelled with an ''s'', just as it is in British, Irish, Indian, Australian, New Zealand and European English, where its use is more common. However, the rare occurrences in the U.S. have the spelling as ''prize'' even though it does not contain a suffix, so does not derive from . (A topsail schooner built in Australia in 1829 was called
Enterprize, in contrast with U.S.
ships
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
and
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
named "Enterprise".)
''-yse'', ''-yze''
The ending ''-yse'' is British and ''-yze'' is American. Thus, in British English ''analyse'', ''
catalyse
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
'', ''
hydrolyse
Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile.
Biological hydrolys ...
'' and ''
paralyse
Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...
'', but in American English ''analyze'', ''
catalyze
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
'', ''
hydrolyze
Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile.
Biological hydrolysis ...
'' and ''
paralyze
Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...
''.
''Analyse'' was the more common spelling in 17th- and 18th-century English. Some dictionaries of the time however preferred ''analyze'', such as
John Kersey's of 1702,
Nathan Bailey's of 1721 and
Samuel Johnson's of 1755. In Canada, ''-yze'' is preferred, but ''-yse'' is also very common. In South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, ''-yse'' is the prevailing form.
English verbs ending in either ''-lyse'' or ''-lyze'' are not similar to the original Greek verb, which is ''λύω lýo'' ("I release"). Instead, they come from the noun form ''
lysis
Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...
'', with the ''-ise'' or ''-ize'' suffix. For example, ''analyse'' comes from French ''analyser'', formed by
haplology
Haplology (from Ancient Greek, Greek "simple" and , "speech") is, in spoken language, the elision (elimination or deletion) of an entire syllable through dissimilation (a differentiating shift that affects two neighboring similar sounds). The ...
from the French ''analysiser'', which would be spelled ''analysise'' or ''analysize'' in English.
''
Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford'' states: "In verbs such as analyse, catalyse, paralyse, ''-lys-'' is part of the Greek stem (corresponding to the element ''-lusis'') and not a suffix like ''-ize''. The spelling ''-yze'' is therefore etymologically incorrect, and must not be used, unless American printing style is being followed."
''-ogue'', ''-og''
British and other Commonwealth English use the ending ''-logue'' while American English commonly uses the ending ''-log'' for words like ''analog(ue)'', ''catalog(ue)'', ''dialog(ue)'', ''homolog(ue)'', etc. The ''-gue'' spelling, as in ''catalogue'', is used in the US, but ''catalog'' is more common. In contrast, ''dialogue'', ''epilogue'', ''prologue'', and ''monologue'' are extremely common spellings compared to ''dialog'' etc. in American English, although both forms are treated as acceptable ways to spell the words (thus the inflected forms, ''cataloged'' and ''cataloging'' vs. ''catalogued'' and ''cataloguing''). Words such as ''
demagogue
A demagogue (from Greek , a popular leader, a leader of a mob, from , people, populace, the commons + leading, leader) or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, e ...
'', ''
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
'', ''
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
'' are seldom used without ''-ue'' even in American English.
In Australia, ''analog'' is standard for the adjective, but both ''analogue'' and ''analog'' are current for the noun; in all other cases the ''-gue'' endings strongly prevail,
for example ''monologue'', except for such expressions as ''
dialog box
The dialog box (also called dialogue box (non-U.S. English), message box or simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response.
Dialog boxes are ...
'' in computing, which are also used in other Commonwealth countries. In Australia, ''analog'' is used in its technical and electronic sense, as in ''analog electronics''.
In Canada and New Zealand, ''analogue'' is used, but ''analog'' has some currency as a technical term
(e.g., in electronics, as in "analog electronics" as opposed to "digital electronics" and some video-game consoles might have an ''analog stick''). The ''-ue'' is absent worldwide in related words like ''analogy'', ''analogous'', and ''analogist''.
Both British and American English use the spelling ''-gue'' with a silent ''-ue'' for certain words that are not part of the ''-ogue'' set, such as ''tongue'' (cf.
tong Tong may refer to:
Chinese
*Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese
*Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities
*''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...
), ''plague'', ''vague'', and ''league.'' In addition, when the ''-ue'' is not silent, as in the words ''argue,'' ''ague'' and ''segue,'' all varieties of English use ''-gue.''
Doubled consonants
The plural of the noun ''bus'' is usually ''buses'', with ''busses'' a minor American variant.
Conversely, inflections of the verb ''bus'' usually double the ''s'' in British (''busses, bussed, bussing'') but not American (''buses, bused, busing'').
In Australia, both are common, with the American slightly more common.
Doubled in British English
The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled in both American and British spelling when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel, for example ''strip/stripped'', which prevents confusion with ''stripe/striped'' and shows the difference in pronunciation (see
digraph). Generally, this happens only when the word's final syllable is stressed and when it also ends with a lone vowel followed by a lone consonant. In British English, however, a final ''-l'' is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed.
This exception is no longer usual in American English, seemingly because of
Noah Webster
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
. The ''-ll-'' spellings are nevertheless still deemed acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.
* The British English doubling is used for all inflections (''-ed'', ''-ing'', ''-er'', ''-est'') and for the noun suffixes ''-er'' and ''-or''. Therefore, British English usage is ''cancelled'', ''counsellor'', ''cruellest'', ''labelled'', ''modelling'', ''quarrelled'', ''signalling'', ''traveller'', and ''travelling''. Americans typically use ''canceled'', ''counselor'', ''cruelest'', ''labeled'', ''modeling'', ''quarreled'', ''signaling'', ''traveler'', and ''traveling''. However, for certain words such as ''cancelled'', the ''-ll-'' spelling is very common in American English as well.
** The word ''parallel'' keeps a single ''-l-'' in British English, as in American English (''paralleling'', ''unparalleled''), to avoid the unappealing cluster ''-llell-''.
** Words with two vowels before a final ''l'' are also spelled with ''-ll-'' in British English before a suffix when the first vowel either acts as a consonant (''equalling'' and ''initialled''; in the United States, ''equaling'' or ''initialed''), or belongs to a separate syllable (British ''di•alled'' and ''fu•el•ling''; American ''di•aled'' and ''fu•el•ing'').
*** British ''woollen'' is a further exception due to the double vowel (American: ''woolen''). Also, ''wooly'' is accepted in American English, though ''woolly'' prevails in both systems.
*** The verb ''surveil'', a
back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...
from ''surveillance'', always makes ''surveilled'', ''surveilling''.
* Endings ''-ize''/''-ise'', ''-ism'', ''-ist'', ''-ish'' usually do not double the ''l'' in British English; for example, ''devilish'', ''dualism'', ''normalise'', and ''novelist''.
** Exceptions: ''duellist'', ''medallist'', ''panellist'', ''tranquillise'', and sometimes ''triallist'' in British English.
* For ''-ous'', British English has a single ''l'' in ''scandalous'' and ''perilous'', but the "ll" in ''libellous'' and ''marvellous''.
* For ''-ee'', British English has ''libellee''.
* For ''-age'', British English has ''
pupillage
A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Hong Kong, is the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers. Pupillage is similar to an apprenticeship, during which bar ...
'' but ''vassalage''.
* American English sometimes has an unstressed ''-ll-'', as in the UK, in some words where the root has ''-l''. These are cases where the change happens in the source language, which was often Latin. (Examples: ''bimetallism'', ''cancellation'', ''chancellor'', ''crystallize'', ''excellent'', ''raillery'', and ''tonsillitis''.)
* All forms of English have ''compelled'', ''excelling'', ''propelled'', ''rebelling'' (notice the stress difference); ''revealing'', ''fooling'' (note the double vowel before the l); and ''hurling'' (consonant before the ''l'').
* Canadian and Australian English mostly follow British usage.
Among consonants other than ''l'', practice varies for some words, such as where the final syllable has
secondary stress
Secondary stress (or obsolete: secondary accent) is the weaker of two degrees of stress in the pronunciation of a word, the stronger degree of stress being called ''primary''. The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for secondary stress is a ...
or an unreduced vowel. In the United States, the spellings ''kidnaped'' and ''worshiped'', which were introduced by the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' in the 1920s, are common, but ''kidnapped'' and ''worshipped'' prevail. ''Kidnapped'' and ''worshipped'' are the only standard British spellings. However, ''focused'' is the predominant spelling in both British and American English, ''focussed'' being just a minor variant in British English.
Miscellaneous:
* British ''calliper'' or ''caliper''; American ''caliper''.
* British ''jewellery''; American ''jewelry''. The word originates from the Old French word ''jouel'' (whose contemporary French equivalent is ''joyau'', with the same meaning). The standard pronunciation does not reflect this difference, but the non-standard pronunciation (which exists in New Zealand and Britain, hence the Cockney rhyming slang word ''tomfoolery'' ) does. According to Fowler, ''jewelry'' used to be the "rhetorical and poetic" spelling in the UK, and was still used by ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' into the mid-20th century. Canada has both, but ''jewellery'' is more often used. Likewise, the Commonwealth (including Canada) has ''jeweller'' and the US has ''jeweler'' for a jewel(le)ry seller.
Doubled in American English
Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single ''l'' and Americans a double ''l''. In American usage, the spelling of words is usually not changed when they form the main part (not prefix or suffix) of other words, especially in newly formed words and in words whose main part is in common use. Words with this spelling difference include
''appall'', ''enrollment'', ''fulfill'', ''fulfillment'', ''installment'', ''skillful'', ''thralldom'', ''willful''. These words have monosyllabic cognates always written with ''-ll'': ''pall'', ''roll'', ''fill'', ''stall'', ''skill'', ''thrall'', ''will''. Cases where a single ''l'' nevertheless occurs in both American and British English include ''null''→''annul'', ''annulment''; ''till''→''until'' (although some prefer ''til'' to reflect the single ''l'' in ''until'', sometimes using a leading apostrophe (''til''); this should be considered a
hypercorrection
In sociolinguistics, hypercorrection is non-standard use of language that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of language-usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes through a mi ...
as ''till'' predates the use of ''until''); and others where the connection is not clear or the monosyllabic cognate is not in common use in American English (e.g., ''null'' is used mainly as a technical term in law, mathematics, and computer science).
In the UK, a single ''l'' is generally preferred in American forms ''distill'', ''instill'', ''enroll'', and ''enthrallment'', and ''enthrall'', although ''ll'' was formerly used; these are always spelled with ''ll'' in American usage. The former British spellings ''dulness'', ''instal'', and ''fulness'' are now quite rare.
The Scottish ''
tolbooth
A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...
'' is cognate with ''
tollbooth
A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll plaza, tollga ...
'', but it has a distinct meaning.
In both American and British usages, words normally spelled ''-ll'' usually drop the second ''l'' when used as prefixes or suffixes, for example ''all''→''almighty'', ''altogether''; ''full''→''handful'', ''useful''; ''well''→''welcome'', ''welfare''; ''chill''→''chilblain''.
Both the British ''fulfil'' and the American ''fulfill'' never use ''-ll-'' in the middle (i.e., *''fullfill'' and *''fullfil'' are incorrect).
Johnson wavered on this issue. His dictionary of 1755
lemmatizes ''distil'' and ''instill'', ''downhil'' and ''uphill''.
Dropped "e"
British English sometimes keeps a silent "e" when adding suffixes where American English does not. Generally speaking, British English drops it in only some cases in which it is needed to show pronunciation whereas American English only uses it where needed.
* British prefers ''ageing'',
American usually ''aging'' (compare ''ageism'', ''raging''). For the noun or verb "route", British English often uses ''routeing'', but in America ''routing'' is used. The military term ''rout'' forms ''routing'' everywhere. However, all of these words form "router", whether used in the context of carpentry, data communications, or the military. (e.g., "Attacus was the router of the Huns at ....")
Both forms of English keep the silent "e" in the words ''dyeing'', ''singeing'', and ''swingeing'' (in the sense of ''dye'', ''singe'', and ''swinge''), to distinguish from ''dying'', ''singing'', ''swinging'' (in the sense of ''die'', ''sing'', and ''swing''). In contrast, the verb ''bathe'' and the British verb ''bath'' both form ''bathing''. Both forms of English vary for ''tinge'' and ''twinge''; both prefer ''cringing'', ''hinging'', ''lunging'', ''syringing''.
* Before ''-able'', British English prefers ''likeable'', ''liveable'', ''rateable'', ''saleable'', ''sizeable'', ''unshakeable'',
British National Corpus
The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100-million-word text corpus of samples of written and spoken English from a wide range of sources. The corpus covers British English of the late 20th century from a wide variety of genres, with the intention ...
where American practice prefers to drop the "-e"; but both British and American English prefer ''breathable'', ''curable'', ''datable'', ''lovable'', ''movable'', ''notable'', ''provable'', ''quotable'', ''scalable'', ''solvable'', ''usable'',
and those where the root is polysyllabic, like ''believable'' or ''decidable''. Both systems keep the silent "e" when it is needed to preserve a soft "c", "ch", or "g", such as in ''cacheable'', ''changeable'', ''traceable''; both usually keep the "e" after "-dge", as in ''knowledgeable'', ''unbridgeable'', and ''unabridgeable'' ("These rights are unabridgeable").
* Both ''abridgment'' and the more regular ''abridgement'' are current in the US, only the latter in the UK.
Likewise for the word ''lodg(e)ment''. Both ''judgment'' and ''judgement'' are in use interchangeably everywhere, although the former prevails in the US and the latter prevails in the UK
except in the practice of law, where ''judgment'' is standard. This also holds for ''abridgment'' and ''acknowledgment''. Both systems prefer ''
fledgling'' to ''fledgeling'', but ''
ridgeling
A ridgling (also spelled ridgeling), or rig, is a cryptorchid; a male animal with one or both testicles undescended, usually describing a ram, bull, or male horse, but cryptorchidism also can be an issue in dogs and cats. Because the heat inside t ...
'' to ''ridgling''. ''Acknowledgment'', ''acknowledgement'', ''abridgment'' and ''abridgement'' are all used in Australia; the shorter forms are endorsed by the Australian Capital Territory Government.
Apart from when the "e" is dropped and in the word ''gaol'' and some pronunciations of ''margarine'', "g" can only be soft when followed by an "e", "i", or "y".
*The word "blue" always drops the "e" when forming "bluish" or "bluing".
Hard and soft "c"
A "c" is generally soft when followed by an "e", "i", or "y". One word with a pronunciation that is an exception in British English, "sceptic", is spelled "skeptic" in American English. See
''Miscellaneous spelling differences'' below.
Different spellings for different meanings
* ''dependant'' or ''dependent'' (noun): British dictionaries distinguish between ''dependent'' (adjective) and ''dependant'' (noun). In the US, ''dependent'' is usual for both noun and adjective, regardless of ''dependant'' also being an acceptable variant for the noun form in the US.
* ''disc'' or ''disk'': Traditionally, ''disc'' used to be British and ''disk'' American. Both spellings are etymologically sound (Greek ''diskos'', Latin ''discus''), although ''disk'' is earlier. In computing, ''disc'' is used for optical discs (e.g., a CD, Compact Disc; DVD, Digital Versatile/Video Disc;
MCA DiscoVision
DiscoVision is the name of several things related to the video LaserDisc format.
It was the original name of the "Reflective Optical Videodisc System" format later known as "LaserVision" or LaserDisc.
Description
MCA DiscoVision, Inc. was a div ...
,
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
), by choice of the group that coined and trademarked the name Compact Disc, while ''disk'' is used for products using magnetic storage (e.g.,
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...
s or
floppy disk
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
s, also known as diskettes).
* ''enquiry'' or ''inquiry'':
According to Fowler, ''inquiry'' should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and ''enquiry'' to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the ''OED'', in their entry dating from 1900, lists ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' as equal alternatives, in that order (with the addition of "public inquiry" in a 1993 addition). Some British dictionaries, such as ''Chambers 21st Century Dictionary'', present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer ''inquiry'' for the "formal inquest" sense. In the US, only ''inquiry'' is commonly used; the title of the ''
National Enquirer
The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years.
The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...
'', as a proper name, is an exception. In Australia, ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' are often interchangeable.
* ''ensure'' or ''insure'': In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the word ''ensure'' (to make sure, to make certain) has a distinct meaning from the word ''insure'' (often followed by ''against'' – to guarantee or protect against, typically by means of an "insurance policy"). The distinction is only about a century old.
In American usage, ''insure'' may also be used in the former sense, but ''ensure'' may not be used in the latter sense. According to Merriam-Webster's usage notes, ''ensure'' and ''insure'' "are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or
akinginevitable of an outcome, but ''ensure'' may imply a virtual guarantee 'the government has ''ensured'' the safety of the refugees', while ''insure'' sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand 'careful planning should ''insure'' the success of the party'."
* ''matt'' or ''matte'': In the UK, ''matt'' refers to a non-glossy surface, and ''matte'' to the
motion-picture technique; in the US, ''matte'' covers both.
* ''programme'' or ''program'': The British ''programme'' is from post-classical Latin ''programma'' and French ''programme''. ''Program'' first appeared in Scotland in 1633 (earlier than ''programme'' in England in 1671) and is the only spelling found in the US. The ''OED'' entry, updated in 2007, says that ''program'' conforms to the usual representation of Greek as in ''anagram'', ''diagram'', ''telegram'' etc. In British English, ''program'' is the common spelling for computer programs, but for other meanings ''programme'' is used. New Zealand also follows this pattern. In Australia, ''program'' has been endorsed by government writing standards for all meanings since the 1960s,
and is listed as the official spelling in the ''
Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand En ...
'';
see also the name of ''
The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)
''The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)'' is an Australian sketch comedy TV series hosted by Shaun Micallef, and written by Micallef and Gary McCaffrie, that ran from 1998 to 2001 on ABC 1, ABC TV. It was known as ''The Micallef Program'' in its first ser ...
''. In Canada, ''program'' prevails, and the ''
Canadian Oxford Dictionary
The ''Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Canadian English. First published by Oxford University Press Canada in 1998, it became a well-known reference for Canadian English.
The second edition, published in 2004, contains about 300 ...
'' makes no meaning-based distinction between it and ''programme''. However, some Canadian government documents nevertheless use ''programme'' for all meanings of the word – and also to match the spelling of the French equivalent.
* ''tonne'' or ''ton'': In the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, the spelling ''
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
'' refers to the metric unit (1,000 kilograms), which is the nomenclature used in
SI units
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes Pleonasm#Acronyms and initialisms, pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most wid ...
, whereas in the US the same unit is called a ''metric ton''. The unqualified ''
ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
'' usually refers to the
long ton () in the UK and to the
short ton
The short ton (symbol tn) is a measurement unit equal to . It is commonly used in the United States, where it is known simply as a ton,
although the term is ambiguous, the single word being variously used for short, long, and metric ton.
The vari ...
() in the US (but note that the tonne and long ton differ by only 1.6%, and are roughly interchangeable when accuracy is not critical; ton and tonne are usually pronounced the same in speech).
*
''metre'' or ''meter'': In British English there is a distinction between ''metre'' as a unit of length, and a ''meter'' in the sense of an ammeter or a water meter, whereas the standard American spelling for both is "meter".
Different spellings for different pronunciations
In a few cases,
essentially the same word has a different spelling that reflects a different pronunciation.
As well as the miscellaneous cases listed in the following table, the past tenses of some irregular verbs differ in both spelling and pronunciation, as with ''smelt'' (UK) versus ''smelled'' (US) (see
American and British English grammatical differences: Verb morphology).
Past tense differences
In the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, it is more common to end some past tense verbs with a "t" as in ''
learnt'' or ''
dreamt'' rather than ''learned'' or ''dreamed''. However, such spellings are also found in American English. However, in American English, ''burned'' and ''burnt'' have different usages.
Several verbs have different past tenses or past participles in American and British English:
*The past tense of the verb "to dive" is most commonly found as "dived" in British, and New Zealand English. "Dove" is usually used in its place in American English. Both terms are understood in Canada and Australia, and may be found either in minority use or in regional dialect in America.
*The past tense of the verb "to get" is "got" everywhere, but the past participle is "got" in British and New Zealand English but "gotten" in American and Canadian, and occasionally in Australian English. Both terms are understood, and may be found either in minority use or in regional dialect. One exception is in the phrase "ill-gotten", which is widely used everywhere. Another is the universal use of "have got" to indicate possession or necessity: "I have got a car", "I have got to go" (whereas "I have gotten a car" would mean "I have ''obtained'' a car", and "I have gotten to go" would mean "I have had the ''opportunity/privilege'' to go"). None of this affects "forget" and "beget", whose past participles are "forgotten" and "begotten" in all varieties.
Miscellaneous spelling differences
In the table below, the main spellings are above the accepted alternative spellings.
}.
Webster favoured ''apothegm'', which matches la, apothegma, and was also more common in England until Johnson.
There is an unrelated word spelled ''
apothem
The apothem (sometimes abbreviated as apo) of a regular polygon is a line segment from the center to the midpoint of one of its sides. Equivalently, it is the line drawn from the center of the polygon that is perpendicular to one of its sides. T ...
'' in all regions.
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artefact,
artifact , , artifact , , In British English, ''artefact'' is the main spelling and ''artifact'' a minor variant. In American English, ''artifact'' is the usual spelling. Canadians prefer ''artifact'' and Australians ''artefact'', according to their respective dictionaries.
''Artefact'' reflects ''Arte-fact(um)'', the Latin source.
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axe
An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...
, ,
ax,
axe , , Both the noun and verb. The word comes from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''æx''. In the US, both spellings are acceptable and commonly used. The
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
states that "the spelling ''ax'' is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than ''axe'', which became prevalent in the 19th century; but it
ax"is now disused in Britain".
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,
camomile
Chamomile (American English) or camomile (British English; see spelling differences) ( or ) is the common name for several plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, ''Matricaria recutita'' and ''Anthemis nobilis'', are commonly us ...
,
chamomile
Chamomile (American English) or camomile (British English; see spelling differences) ( or ) is the common name for several plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, ''Matricaria recutita'' and ''Anthemis nobilis'', are commonly us ...
, , chamomile, camomile , , The word derives, via French and Latin, from Greek χαμαίμηλον ("earth apple"). The more common British spelling "camomile", corresponding to the immediate French source, is the older in English, while the spelling "chamomile" more accurately corresponds to the ultimate Latin and Greek source. In the UK, according to the ''OED'', "the spelling ''cha-'' is chiefly in pharmacy, after Latin; that with ''ca-'' is literary and popular". In the US ''chamomile'' dominates in all senses.
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,
carat , , carat,
karat
The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardne ...
, , The spelling with a "k" is used in the US only for the measure of purity of gold. The "c" spelling is universal for weight.
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,
cheque
A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...
, , check , , In banking. Hence ''pay cheque'' and ''paycheck''. Accordingly, the North American term for what is known as a ''current account'' or ''cheque account'' in the UK is spelled ''chequing account'' in Canada and ''checking account'' in the US. Some American financial institutions, notably
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
, use ''cheque'', but this is merely a trademarking affectation.
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,
chequer
English draughts (British English) or checkers (American English), also called straight checkers or simply draughts, is a form of the strategy board game checkers (or draughts). It is played on an 8×8 checkerboard with 12 pieces per side. The ...
, , checker , , As in ''chequerboard''/''checkerboard'', ''chequered''/''checkered flag'' etc. In Canada and Australia as in the US.
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,
chilli
Chili or chilli may refer to:
Food
* Chili pepper, the spicy fruit of plants in the genus ''Capsicum''; sometimes spelled "chilli" in the UK and "chile" in the southwestern US
* Chili powder, the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties ...
, ,
chili,
chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, , The original
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish ( es, español mexicano) is the variety of Dialect, dialects and Sociolect, sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexican territory. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, with more than twice as many as in a ...
word is ''chile'', itself derived from the
Classical Nahuatl
Classical Nahuatl (also known simply as Aztec or Nahuatl) is any of the variants of Nahuatl spoken in the Valley of Mexico and central Mexico as a ''lingua franca'' at the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. During the s ...
''chilli''.
In ''
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
'', ''chile'' and ''chilli'' are given as ''also'' variants.
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,
cipher
In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...
,
cypher
Cypher is an alternative spelling for cipher.
Cypher may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Cypher (French Group), a Goa trance music group
* Cypher (band), an Australian instrumental band
* Cypher (film), ''Cypher'' (film), a 2002 film
* C ...
, , cipher , ,
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,
cosy , ,
cozy , , In all senses (adjective, noun, verb).
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,
coulter,
colter , , colter , ,
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,
doughnut
A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franc ...
, , doughnut,
donut
A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franc ...
, , In the US, both are used, with ''donut'' indicated as a less common variant of ''doughnut''.
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,
draughtdraft , , draft , , British English usually uses ''draft'' for all senses as the verb; for a preliminary version of a document; for an order of payment (
bank draft
A banker's draft (also called a bank cheque, bank draft in Canada or, in the US, a teller's check) is a cheque (or check) provided to a customer of a bank or acquired from a bank for remittance purposes, that is drawn by the bank, and drawn on an ...
), and for
military conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
(although this last meaning is not as common as in American English). It uses ''draught'' for drink from a cask (
draught beer
Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as
Name
Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dire ...
); for animals used for pulling heavy loads (
draught horse
A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch ''dragen'' and German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish ''drage'' meaning "to draw" or "to fare"), less often ...
); for a current of air; for
a ship's minimum depth of water to float; and for the game ''
draughts
Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...
'', known as ''checkers'' in America. It uses either ''draught'' or ''draft'' for a plan or sketch (but almost always ''draughtsman'' in this sense; a ''draftsman'' drafts legal documents).
American English uses ''draft'' in all these cases. Canada uses both systems; in Australia, ''draft'' is used for technical drawings, is accepted for the "current of air" meaning, and is preferred by professionals in the nautical sense.
The pronunciation is always the same for all meanings within a dialect (RP , General American ).
The spelling ''draught'' reflects the older pronunciation, . ''Draft'' emerged in the 16th century to reflect the change in pronunciation.
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,
dyke , ,
dike
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes ...
, , The spelling with "i" is sometimes found in the UK, but the "y" spelling is rare in the US, where the ''y'' distinguishes ''dike'' in this sense from ''dyke'', a (usually offensive) slang term for a lesbian.
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,
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
, , gauge,
gage
Gage may refer to:
Measurement
* Gage is a variant spelling of the word ''gauge''
*Stream gauge, aka Stream gage, a site along a stream where flow measurements are made
People
* Gage (surname)
*Gage Golightly (born 1993), American actress
Plac ...
, , Both spellings have existed since Middle English.
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,
gauntlet , ,
gantlet , , When meaning "ordeal", in the phrase ''
running the ga(u)ntlet'', American
style guide
A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...
s prefer ''gantlet''. This spelling is unused in Britain and less usual in America than ''gauntlet''. The word is an alteration of earlier ''gantlope'' by
folk etymology
Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
with
gauntlet ("armoured glove"), always spelled thus.
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glycerine
Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...
, ,
glycerin
Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...
, , Scientists use the term
glycerol
Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...
.
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,
grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
, ,
gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
, , ''Grey'' became the established British spelling in the 20th century,
but it is a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer ''grey''. The two spellings are of equal antiquity, and the Oxford English Dictionary states that "each of the current spellings has some analogical support". Both ''Grey'' and ''Gray'' are found in proper nouns everywhere in the English-speaking world. The name of the dog breed ''
greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
'' is never spelled ''grayhound''; the word descends from ''grighund''.
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, grill,
grille
Grill or grille may refer to:
Food
* Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function
* Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...
, ,
grill,
grille , , In the US, "grille" refers to that of an
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
, whereas "grill" refers to a device used for heating food. However, it is not uncommon to see both spellings used in the automotive sense, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. ''Grill'' is more common overall in both BrE and AmE.
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,
hearken , ,
hearken,
harken , , The word comes from ''
hark
Hark is from a Middle English word "herken", meaning to listen carefully. It may refer to:
Geography
*Hark, Byzantine name for the Muş Province area of Turkey
*"The Hark" (Harkness Commons), a Gropius building on the Harvard Law School campus
...
''. The spelling ''hearken'' was probably influenced by ''
hear
Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory ...
''. Both spellings are found everywhere.
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idyll
An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια).
U ...
, ,
idyl
An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια).
...
, , , ''Idyl'' is the spelling of the word preferred in the US by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, for the same reason as the double consonant rule; ''idyll'', the original form from Greek ''eidullion'', is used.
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,
jail
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
,
gaol
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
, , jail , , In the UK, ''gaol'' and ''gaoler'' are used sometimes, apart from literary usage, chiefly to describe a medieval building and guard. Both spellings go back to Middle English: ''gaol'' was a loanword from Norman French, while ''jail'' was a loanword from central (Parisian) French. In Middle English the two spellings were associated with different pronunciations. In current English the word, however spelled, is always given the pronunciation originally associated only with the ''jail'' spelling . The survival of the ''gaol'' spelling in British English is "due to statutory and official tradition".
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,
kerb
A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.
History
Although curbs have ...
, ,
curb
A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.
History
Although curbs have ...
, , For the noun designating the edge of a roadway (or the edge of a British pavement/ American sidewalk/ Australian footpath). ''Curb'' is the older spelling, and in the UK and US it is still the proper spelling for the verb meaning ''restrain''.
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,
(kilo)gram,
, , (kilo)gram , , The dated spelling ''(kilo)gramme'' is used sometimes in the UK but never in the US. ''(Kilo)gram'' is the only spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The same applies to other related terms such as ''
decagram'' and ''
hectogram''.
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,
liquorice
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liqu ...
, ,
licorice
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liq ...
, , The American spelling is nearer the Old French source ''licorece'', which is ultimately from Greek ''glykyrrhiza''. The British spelling was influenced by the unrelated word ''liquor''. ''Licorice'' prevails in Canada and it is common in Australia, but it is rarely found in the UK. ''Liquorice'' is all but nonexistent in the US ("Chiefly British", according to dictionaries).
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,
midriff
In fashion, the midriff is the human abdomen. The midriff is exposed when wearing a crop top or some forms of swimwear or underwear. Cholis worn by Indian women expose a section of midriff, usually .
Etymology
"Midriff" is a very old term in ...
, , midriff, midrif
, ,
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,
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
, ,
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
, , The related adjective may be spelled ''molluscan'' or ''molluskan''.
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,
mould , ,
mold
A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...
, , In all senses of the word. Both spellings have been used since the 16th century. In Canada, both spellings are used.
In New Zealand, "mold" refers to a form for casting a shape while "mould" refers to the fungus.
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,
moult
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
, ,
molt
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
, ,
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,
neurone
A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. No ...
, , neuron , , Canada and Australia generally use the American "neuron" according to their relevant dictionaries.
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,
omelette
In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives, ve ...
, ,
omelet
In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives, ve ...
,
omelette , , The ''omelet'' spelling is the older of the two, in spite of the etymology (French ''omelette'').
''Omelette'' prevails in Canada and Australia.
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,
plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
, ,
plow
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
, , Both spellings have existed since Middle English. In England, ''plough'' became the main spelling in the 18th century. Although ''plow'' was Noah Webster's pick, ''plough'' continued to have some currency in the US, as the entry in ''Webster's Third'' (1961) implies. Newer dictionaries label ''plough'' as "chiefly British". The word ''snowplough''/''snowplow'', originally an Americanism, predates Webster's dictionaries and was first recorded as ''snow plough''. Canada has both ''plough'' and ''plow'',
although ''snowplow'' is more common. In the US, "plough" sometimes describes a horsedrawn kind while "plow" refers to a gasoline (petrol) powered kind.
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, primaeval, , primeval, , Primeval is also common in the UK but etymologically 'ae' is nearer the Latin source ''primus'' first + ''aevum'' age.
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, programme, program, , program, , While "program" is used in British English in the case of computer programs, "programme" is the spelling most commonly used for all other meanings. However, in American English, "program" is the preferred form.
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, rack and ruin , , wrack and ruin , , Several words like "rack" and "wrack" have been conflated, with both spellings thus accepted as variants for senses connected to torture (orig. ''
rack
Rack or racks may refer to:
Storage and installation
* Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted
* Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use
* Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...
'') and ruin (orig. ''wrack'', cf. ''wreck'') In "(w)rack and ruin", the W-less variant is now prevalent in the UK but not the US. The term, however, is rare in the US.
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,
sceptic
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
,
skeptic
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
, , skeptic , , The American spelling, akin to Greek, is the earliest known spelling in English. It was preferred by Fowler, and is used by many Canadians, where it is the earlier form.
''Sceptic'' also pre-dates the European settlement of the US and it follows the French ''sceptique'' and Latin ''scepticus''. In the mid-18th century, Dr Johnson's dictionary listed ''skeptic'' without comment or alternative, but this form has never been popular in the UK; ''sceptic'', an equal variant in the old ''Webster's Third'' (1961), has now become "chiefly British". Australians generally follow the British usage (with the notable exception of the
Australian Skeptics
Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies. This page covers all Australian ...
). All of these versions are pronounced with a /k/ (a hard "c"), though in French that letter is silent and the word is pronounced like ''septique''.
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,
slew,
slue , , slue , , Meaning "to turn sharply; a sharp turn", the preferred spelling differs. Meaning "a great number" is usually ''slew'' in all regions.
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,
smoulder , ,
smolder
Smouldering (British English) or smoldering (American English; see spelling differences) is the slow, flameless form of combustion, sustained by the heat evolved when oxygen directly attacks the surface of a condensed-phase fuel. Many solid mate ...
, , Both spellings go back to the 16th century, and have existed since Middle English.
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,
storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US).
T ...
, storeys , ,
story
Story or stories may refer to:
Common uses
* Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events)
** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting
* Story (American English), or storey (British ...
, stories , , Level of a building. The letter "e" is used in the UK and Canada to differentiate between levels of buildings and a story as in a literary work.
''Story'' is the earlier spelling. The Oxford English Dictionary states that this word is "probably the same word as story
n its meaning of "narrative"/nowiki> though the development of sense is obscure." One of the first uses of the (now British) spelling "storey" was by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 (''Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...
'' xxxii).
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, sulphate
The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...
,
sulfate , , sulfate
The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...
,
sulphate , , The spelling ''sulfate'' is the more common variant in British English in scientific and technical usage; see the entry on ''sulfur'' and the decisions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
(IUPAC)[So long sulphur , Nature Chemistry](_blank)
/ref> and the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
(RSC).
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, sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
, , sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
,
sulphur , , ''Sulfur'' is the preferred spelling by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
(IUPAC) since 1971 or 1990 and by the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
(RSC) since 1992. ''Sulfur'' is used by scientists in all countries and has been actively taught in chemistry in British schools since December 2000, but the spelling ''sulphur'' prevails in British, Irish and Australian English, and it is also found in some American place names (e.g., Sulphur, Louisiana
Sulphur (french: Soufre) is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The population was 21,809 in 2020. Sulphur is part of the Lake Charles, Louisiana, Lake Charles Lake Charles metropolitan area, metropolitan statistica ...
, and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
White Sulphur Springs is a city in Greenbrier County in southeastern West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,231 at the 2020 census. The city emblem consists of five dandelion flowers and the citizens celebrate spring with an annual Dan ...
). Use of both variant ''f~ph'' spellings continued in Britain until the 19th century, when the word was standardized as ''sulphur''. On the other hand, ''sulfur'' is the form that was chosen in the United States, whereas Canada uses both. Oxford Dictionaries note that "in chemistry and other technical uses ... the ''-f-'' spelling is now the standard form for this and related words in British as well as US contexts, and is increasingly used in general contexts as well." Some American English usage guides suggest ''sulfur'' for technical usage and both ''sulfur'' and ''sulphur'' in common usage and in literature, but American dictionaries list ''sulphur'' as a less common or chiefly British variant. The variation between ''f'' and ''ph'' spellings is also found in the word's ultimate source: Latin ''sulfur'', ''sulphur'', but this was due to Hellenization
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...
of the original Latin word ' to ' in the erroneous belief that the Latin word came from Greek. This spelling was later reinterpreted as representing an /f/ sound and resulted in the spelling ' which appears in Latin toward the end of the Classical period. (The true Greek word for sulfur, , is the source of the international chemical prefix ''thio-
The prefix thio-, when applied to a chemical, such as an ion, means that an oxygen atom in the compound has been replaced by a sulfur atom. This term is often used in organic chemistry. For example, from the word ''ether,'' referring to an oxyg ...
''.) In 12th-century Anglo-French
Anglo-French (or sometimes Franco-British) may refer to:
*France–United Kingdom relations
*Anglo-Norman language or its decendants, varieties of French used in medieval England
*Anglo-Français and Français (hound), an ancient type of hunting d ...
, the word became '. In the 14th century, the erroneously Hellenized Latin ' was restored in Middle English '. By the 15th century, both full Latin spelling variants ''sulfur'' and ''sulphur'' became common in English.
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, through , , through,
thru
''Thru'' is the second solo studio album by American hip hop musician Thavius Beck. It was released through Mush Records on October 3, 2006. It includes "'98", which was ''East Bay Express'' "MP3 of the Day" on November 10, 2006.
Critical receptio ...
, , "Thru" is typically used in the US as shorthand. It may be acceptable in informal writing, but not for formal documents. "Thru" is commonly used on official road signs in the US, as in "no thru traffic", to save space.
In the COBOL programming language, THRU is accepted as an abbreviation of the keyword THROUGH. Since programmers like to keep their code brief, THRU is generally the preferred form of this keyword.
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, tyre , , tire
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...
, , The outer portion of a wheel. In Canada, as in the US, ''tire'' is the older spelling, but both were used in the 15th and 16th centuries (for a metal tire). ''Tire'' became the settled spelling in the 17th century but ''tyre'' was revived in the UK in the 19th century for rubber/pneumatic tyres, possibly because it was used in some patent documents, though many continued to use ''tire'' for the iron variety. ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' newspaper was still using ''tire'' as late as 1905. For the verb meaning "to grow weary" both American and British English use only the ''tire'' spelling.
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, vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
, , vise
A vise or vice (British English) is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever.
A vise grip is no ...
, vice , , For the two-jawed workbench tool, Americans and Canadians retain the very old distinction between ''vise'' (the tool) and ''vice'' (the sin, and also the Latin prefix meaning a deputy), both of which are ''vice'' in the UK and Australia. Regarding the "sin" and "deputy" senses
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...
of ''vice'', all varieties of English use ''-c-''. Thus American English, just as other varieties, has ''vice admiral'', ''vice president'', and ''vice principal''—never ''vise'' for any of those.
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, whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
(Scotland), whiskey
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden cask ...
(Ireland) , , whiskey
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden cask ...
, whisky , , In the United States, the ''whiskey'' spelling is dominant; ''whisky'' is encountered less frequently, but is used on the labels of some major brands (e.g., Early Times
Early Times is a brand of Kentucky whiskey produced by the Sazerac Company, one of the two largest spirits companies in the United States, which purchased the brand in mid-2020. Before the brand purchase, it was distilled in Shively, Kentucky, by ...
, George Dickel
George Dickel is a brand of Tennessee whisky produced in Tullahoma, in Coffee County, Tennessee. Today owned by Diageo, the modern brand was introduced in 1964, though the distillery has a longer history. Whisky production and aging takes pl ...
, Maker's Mark
Maker's Mark is a small-batch bourbon whisky produced in Loretto, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is bottled at 90 U.S. proof (45% alcohol by volume) and sold in squarish bottles sealed with red wax. The distillery offers tours, and is part of ...
, and Old Forester
Old Forester is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced by the Brown–Forman Corporation. It has been on the market continuously for longer than any other bourbon (approximately 150 years as of 2020), and was the first bourbon so ...
) and is used in the relevant US federal regulations. In Canada, ''whisky'' is dominant. Often the spelling is selected based on the origin of the product rather than the location of the intended readership, so it may be considered a ''faux pas'' to refer to "Scotch whiskey
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial disti ...
" or "Irish whisky
Irish whiskey ( ga, Fuisce or ''uisce beatha'') is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Irish , meaning ''water of life''. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a lo ...
". Both ultimately derive from "uisce beatha" (Irish) and "uisge beatha" (Scottish) meaning 'water of life'.
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, yoghurt
Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bact ...
,
yogurt
Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in t ...
,
yoghourt , , yogurt,
yoghurt , , ''Yoghurt'' is an also-ran in the US, as is ''yoghourt'' in the UK. Although the Oxford Dictionaries have always preferred ''yogurt'', in current British usage ''yoghurt'' seems to be prevalent. In Canada, ''yogurt'' prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford preferring ''yogourt'', which has the advantage of satisfying bilingual (English and French) packaging requirements. Both are used in Australia. Whatever the spelling is, the word has different pronunciations: in the UK, in New Zealand, America, Ireland, and Australia. The word comes from the Turkish language
Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...
word ''yoğurt''. The voiced velar fricative
The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , ...
represented by ğ in the modern Turkish (Latinic) alphabet was traditionally written ''gh'' in Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
of the Ottoman Turkish (Arabic) alphabet used before 1928.
Compounds and hyphens
British English often prefers hyphenated compounds, such as ''anti-smoking'', whereas American English discourages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no compelling reason, so ''antismoking'' is much more common. Many dictionaries do not point out such differences. Canadian and Australian usage is mixed, although Commonwealth writers generally hyphenate compounds of the form noun plus phrase (such as ''editor-in-chief''). Commander-in-chief prevails in all forms of English.
Compound verbs in British English are hyphenated more often than in American English.
* ''any more'' or ''anymore'': In sense "any longer", the single-word form is usual in North America and Australia but unusual elsewhere, at least in formal writing. Other senses always have the two-word form; thus Americans distinguish "I couldn't love you anymore o I left you
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
from "I couldn't love you any more han I already do
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest Chinese people, ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of ...
. In Hong Kong English
Hong Kong English is a variety of the English language native to Hong Kong. The variant is either a learner interlanguage or emergent variant, primarily a result of Hong Kong's British overseas territory history and the influence of native ...
, ''any more'' is always two words.
* ''for ever'' or ''forever'': Traditional British English usage makes a distinction between ''for ever'', meaning for eternity (or a very long time into the future), as in "If you are waiting for income tax to be abolished you will probably have to wait for ever"; and ''forever'', meaning continually, always, as in "They are forever arguing". In British usage today, however, ''forever'' prevails in the "for eternity" sense as well, in spite of several style guides maintaining the distinction. American writers usually use ''forever'' regardless of which sense they intend (although ''forever'' in the sense of "continually" is comparatively rare in American English, having been displaced by ''always'').
* ''near by'' or ''nearby'': Some British writers make the distinction between the adverbial ''near by'', which is written as two words, as in, "No one was near by"; and the adjectival ''nearby'', which is written as one, as in, "The nearby house". In American English, the one-word spelling is standard for both forms.
* ''per cent'' or ''percent'': It can be correctly spelled as either one or two words, depending on the Anglophone country, but either spelling must always be consistent with its usage. British English predominantly spells it as two words, so does English in Ireland and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. American English predominantly spells it as one word. Historically, it used to be spelled as two words in the United States, but its usage is diminishing; nevertheless it is a variant spelling in American English today. The spelling difference is reflected in the style guides of newspapers and other media agencies in the US, Ireland, and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. In Canada and Australia (and sometimes in the UK, New Zealand, other Commonwealth countries, and Ireland) ''percent'' is also found, mostly sourced from American press agencies.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s pronounced as words are often written in title case
Title case or headline case is a style of capitalization used for rendering the titles of published works or works of art in English. When using title case, all words are capitalized, except for minor words (typically articles, short prepositions ...
by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
by Americans: for example, '' Nasa / NASA'' or '' Unicef / UNICEF''. This does not apply to abbreviations that are pronounced as individual letters (referred to by some as "initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s"), such as ''US'', '' IBM'', or ''PRC'' (the People's Republic of China), which are virtually always written as upper case. However, sometimes title case is still used in the UK, such as ''Pc'' (Police Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
).
Contractions where the final letter is present are often written in British English without full stops/periods (''Mr'', ''Mrs'', ''Dr'', ''St'', ''Ave''). Abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
s where the final letter is not present generally do take full stops/periods (such as ''vol.'', ''etc.'', ''i.e.'', ''ed.''); British English shares this convention with the French: ''Mlle'', ''Mme'', ''Dr'', ''Ste'', but ''M.'' for ''Monsieur''. In American and Canadian English, abbreviations like ''St.'', ''Ave.'', ''Mr.'', ''Mrs.'', ''Ms.'', ''Dr.'', and ''Jr.'', usually require full stops/periods. Some initials are usually upper case in the US but lower case in the UK: liter/litre and its compounds (''2 L'' or ''25 mL'' vs ''2 l'' or ''25 ml''); and ante meridiem and post meridiem (''10 P.M.'' or ''10 PM'' vs ''10 p.m.'' or ''10 pm''). Both ''AM/PM'' and ''a.m./p.m.'' are acceptable in American English, but U.S. style guides overwhelmingly prefer ''a.m./p.m.''
Punctuation
The use of quotation mark
Quotation marks (also known as quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas, or talking marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an ...
s, also called inverted commas or speech marks, is complicated by the fact that there are two kinds: single quotation marks (') and double quotation marks ("). British usage, at one stage in the recent past, preferred single quotation marks for ordinary use, but double quotation marks are again now increasingly common; American usage has always preferred double quotation marks, as have Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand English. It is the practice to alternate the type of quotation marks used where there is a quotation within a quotation.
The convention used to be, and in American English still is, to put full stops (periods) and commas inside the quotation marks, irrespective of the sense. British style now prefers to punctuate according to the sense, in which punctuation marks only appear inside quotation marks if they were there in the original. Formal British English practice requires a full stop to be put inside the quotation marks if the quoted item is a full sentence that ends where the main sentence ends, but it is common to see the stop outside the ending quotation marks.
See also
* Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...
* Canadian English
Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...
* English language in England
The English language spoken and written in England encompasses a diverse range of accents and dialects. The language forms part of the broader British English, along with other varieties in the United Kingdom. Terms used to refer to the ...
* English in the Commonwealth of Nations
The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.
Many r ...
* English orthography
English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
* Hong Kong English
Hong Kong English is a variety of the English language native to Hong Kong. The variant is either a learner interlanguage or emergent variant, primarily a result of Hong Kong's British overseas territory history and the influence of native ...
* Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English (from Latin ''Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland a ...
* Indian English
Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...
* Malaysian English
Malaysian English (MyE), formally known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE) (similar and related to British English), is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia. While Malaysian English can encompass a range of English spoken in Malaysia ...
* Manx English
Manx English (Manks English), or Anglo-Manx (Anglo-Manks; gv, Baarle Ghaelgagh), is the historic dialect of English spoken on the Isle of Man, though today in decline. It has many borrowings from Manx, a Goidelic language, and it differs wid ...
* New Zealand English
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
* Philippine English
Philippine English (similar and related to American English) is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from adjac ...
* Scottish English
Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard ...
* Singaporean English
Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) (similar and related to British English) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore. In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English (indistinguisha ...
* South African English
South African English (SAfrE, SAfrEng, SAE, en-ZA) is the set of English language dialects native to South Africans.
History
British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, when they established a military holding op ...
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General and cited sources
* Chambers, J.K. (1998). "Canadian English: 250 Years in the Making", in ''The Canadian Oxford Dictionary'', 2nd ed., p. xi.
* Clark, Joe (2009).
Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours: How to Feel Good About Canadian English
' (e-book, version 1.1). .
* Fowler, Henry; Winchester, Simon (introduction) (2003 reprint). ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series)''. Oxford Press. .
* Hargraves, Orin (2003). ''Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*
*
* ''Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'', 20 vols. (1989) Oxford University Press.
*
* ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary
''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (commonly known as ''Webster's Third'', or ''W3'') was published in September 1961. It was edited by Philip Babcock Gove and a team of lexicographers who spent 757 ...
'' (1961; repr. 2002) Merriam-Webster, Inc.
External links
''The Chicago Manual of Style''
Word substitution list
by th
Ubuntu English (United Kingdom) Translators team
What will the English language be like in 100 years?
(future outlook)
{{DEFAULTSORT:American And British English Spelling Differences
Spelling differences
Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and American ...
English orthography
Internationalization and localization