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
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. 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 any country.
Historical origins
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 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'' 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) 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 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 has a ...
'', ''
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 notes that "' appears in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, 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.
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 t ...
'', '' 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
Glamour may refer to:
Arts
Film
* ''Glamour'' (1931 film), a British film
* ''Glamour'' (1934 film), an American film
* ''Glamour'' (2000 film), a Hungarian film
Writing
* ''Glamour'' (magazine), a magazine for women
* ''The 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 invitations 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'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 ...
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 names 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
Savory or Savoury may refer to:
Common usage
* Herbs of the genus ''Satureja'', particularly:
** Summer savory (''Satureja hortensis''), an annual herb, used to flavor food
** Winter savory (''Satureja montana''), a perennial herb, also used to ...
'' 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'' has a ''u'' in the UK; the medical term '' rigor'' (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 pronunci ...
'' in 1997 and the first '' Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' 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. 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 ...
enter
Enter or ENTER may refer to:
* Enter key, on computer keyboards
* Enter, Netherlands, a village
* ''Enter'' (magazine), an American technology magazine for children 1983–1985
* ''Enter'' (Finnish magazine), a Finnish computer magazine
* Enter ...
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
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
'', ''
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 ...
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 ...
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''.
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'' 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, hexameter, 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 ...
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. Sometimes, these places were named before spelling changes but more often the spelling serves as an affectation. Proper names 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
Oeuvre(s) or Œuvre(s) may refer to:
* A work of art; or, more commonly, the body of work of a creator
Books
* ''L'Œuvre'', a novel by Émile Zola
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Emil Cioran
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Auguste Brizeux
* ''Oeuvres'', a wor ...
''. 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 ...
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 ...
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).
advise
ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement) is a research and development program within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Threat and Vulnerability Testing and Assessment (TVTA) portfoli ...
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
Practice or practise may refer to:
Education and learning
* Practice (learning method), a method of learning by repetition
* Phantom practice, phenomenon in which a person's abilities continue to improve, even without practicing
* Practice-based ...
/ 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
Practice or practise may refer to:
Education and learning
* Practice (learning method), a method of learning by repetition
* Phantom practice, phenomenon in which a person's abilities continue to improve, even without practicing
* Practice-based ...
'' 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
Offense or offence may refer to:
Common meanings
* Offense or crime, a violation of penal law
* An insult, or negative feeling in response to a perceived insult
* An attack, a proactive offensive engagement
* Sin, an act that violates a known m ...
'', 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
{{Short pages monitor, 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)''. In Canada, ''program'' prevails, and the '' Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' 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 , , 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 , , 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 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 , , 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 , , 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 ...
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 ...
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
Cosy may refer to
* Tea cosy, a cover for a teapot
* Cozy mystery, a subgenre of crime fiction
* Cosy catastrophe, post-apocalyptic science fiction style
* Correlation spectroscopy (COSY)
* CoSy (Conferencing System), an early computer conferenc ...
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 , , In the US, both are used, with ''donut'' indicated as a less common variant of ''doughnut''.
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, draught draft , , 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), 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 ...
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 , , 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 ...
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 ...
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'' 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''. 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 , , 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 , , curb , , 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 , , 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 , , 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 , , molt , ,
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, neurone , , neuron , , Canada and Australia generally use the American "neuron" according to their relevant dictionaries.
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, omelette , ,
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,
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). 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 , , 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, 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'' xxxii).
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, sulphate, sulfate , , sulfate, 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 /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). 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, 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
COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily us ...
, 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 (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 ...
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
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 (; , 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, 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 , ...
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 ...
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, ''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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...