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EspañolAMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH SPELLING DIFFERENCES
'American and British English spelling differences' are one aspect of American and British English differences.
In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardised. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's ''Dictionary of the English Language'' (1755). Many of the now characteristic American English spellings were introduced, although often not created, by Noah Webster in his ''An American Dictionary of the English Language'' of 1828.
Webster was a strong proponent of spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the U.S. by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the advocates of spelling reform in England, the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in the UK had little effect on present-day U.S. spelling, and vice versa. While in many cases American English deviated in the 19th century from mainstream British spelling, on the other hand it has also often retained older forms.
The spelling systems of Commonwealth countries closely resemble the British system. In Canada, while most spelling is "British", many "American" spellings are also used. Detailed information on Canadian and Australian spelling is provided throughout the article.
Spelling and pronunciation
In a few cases, essentially the same word has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation.
| UK | US | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aeroplane with three syllables is standard in the U.K. and was first coined in 1866 [1] referring both to the vehicle and the wings function. The prefix 'aero' is also preferred for related terms such as aerodrome, aeronautics. Airplane, with two syllables was first coined in 1906[1] is the primary U.S. spelling, used very rarely in the U.K. but is understood. | ||
| ''Aluminium'' is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC). The American spelling is nonetheless used by many American scientists. Davy, the element's discoverer, proposed both "alumium", and later "aluminum". The name "aluminium" was finally adopted to conform with the -ium ending of many elements.[3] Canada as U.S. | ||
| In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey" is ''ass'' in both. Both forms are found in Canada and Australia. | ||
| In sense "slightly insane", "crazy", "foolish",[4] which has limited currency in American English. Both forms originated in 19th century England from other senses: ''barmy'' meant "frothing [as of beer]"; ''balmy'' means "warm and soft [as of weather]". | ||
| Canada has both. British form is more etymologically conservative (Old English behōfian → Middle English behove(n)). | ||
| The spoken form in the U.K. suggests bogeys, snot or dried nasal mucus, whereas the U.S. form is reminiscent of 1970 disco dancing to the U.K. ear. | ||
| In the American pronunciation, the third syllable (et) is pronounced "ay". Canada as U.S. | ||
| , | In the U.S., where both terms are mainly regional,[5] ''charivari'' is however pronounced usually as ''shivaree'', which is also found in Canada and Cornwall,[6] and is a corruption of the French word. | |
| for a 2-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is ''coupé'' in both; unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always ''coupe''. In the U.S., the E is accented when used as a foreign word. | ||
| Rhyme with ''weary'' and ''hairy'' respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in the U.S. | ||
| , | Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way in the U.S. even if the word is spelled fillet. Canada as U.S. | |
| ''Furore'' is a late 18th-century Italian loan that replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the following century,[7] and is usually pronounced with a voiced ''e''. Canada as U.S. Australia has both. | ||
| Haulage contractor; ''haulier'' is the older spelling.[8] In Canada, ''hauler'' prevails. | ||
| In the U.S., according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, the British spelling is an ''also''-ran, but the second-syllable stress pronunciation is a common variant. | ||
| (my) | (my) | Mother. ''Mom'' is sporadically regionally found in the UK (West Midlands English); some British dialects have ''mam'',[9] and this is often used in Irish and Welsh English. In the U.S. region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British pronunciation of ''mum'' is often retained, while it is still spelt ''mom''. Canada has ''mom'' and ''mum''; in Australia, ''mum'' is the word. |
| ''Persnickety'' is a late 19th-century North American alteration of the Scottish word ''pernickety''.[10] | ||
| Abbreviations of ''quintuplet''. | ||
| In the U.S. (where the word originated, as ''scalawag'') ''scallywag'' is not unknown. | ||
| According to major dictionaries, both forms can occur in both dialects, although ''snigger'' can cause offense in the U.S. due to the similarity to ''. In Canada ''snigger'' can have malicious connotations; in Australia ''snigger'' prevails, as in the UK.[11] | ||
| In British English the standard usage is ''speciality'', but ''specialty'' occurs in the field of medicine,[12] and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, ''specialty'' prevails; in Australia both are current.[13] | ||
| Canada as U.S. |
Latin-derived spellings
''-our'' / ''-or''
Most words ending in unstressed ''-our'' in the United Kingdom (e.g. '', '', '') end in ''-or'' in the U.S. (e.g. '', '', '').
Most words of this category derive from Latin non-agent nouns having nominative ''-or''; the first such borrowings into English were from early Old French and the ending was ''-or'' or ''-ur''.[14] After the Norman Conquest, the termination became ''-our'' in Anglo-French in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in ''-or''.[15] The ''-our'' ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but also applied to earlier French borrowings.[14] After the Renaissance, some such borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original ''-or'' termination; many words once ending in ''-our'' (for example, ''chancellour'' and ''governour'') now end in ''-or'' everywhere. Many words of the ''-our/-or'' group do not have a Latin counterpart; for example, ''armo(u)r'', ''behavio(u)r'', ''harbo(u)r'', ''neighbo(u)r''; also ''arbo(u)r'' in sense "shelter"; senses "tree" and "tool" are always ''arbor'', a false cognate of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that ''-or'' be used for words of Latin origin and ''-our'' for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated ''-or'' only and others ''-our'' only.[17]
As early as 1755 Dr Johnson settled on ''-our'', while Webster's 1828 dictionary featured only ''-or'' and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the U.S. By contrast, Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform and for the most part simply recorded what he found. For example, documents [2] from the Old Bailey, the foremost court in London, support the view of the OED that by the 17th century "" was the settled spelling. Those English speakers who began to move across the Atlantic would have taken these habits with them and H L Mencken makes the point that, "'' appears in the Declaration of Independence, but it seems to have got there rather by accident than by design. In Jefferson’s original draft it is spelled ''. " [3] Examples such as '', '', '', '', or '' scarcely appear in the Old Bailey's court records from the 17th and 18th century, whereas examples of their ''-our'' counterparts are generally numbered in hundreds. One notable exception is ''honor'': ''honor'' and ''honour'' were equally frequent down to the 17th century,[18] and ''Honor'' still is, in the UK, the normal spelling for a person's name.
'Derivatives and inflected forms'. In derivatives and inflected forms of the ''-our/or'' words, in British usage the ''u'' is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words ('', '', '') and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been naturalised ('', '', ''); before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the ''u'' can be dropped ('', '', '', '', '', ''), can be either dropped or retained (''colo(u)ration'', ''colo(u)rise''), or can be retained ('').[14] In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all environments ('', ''savory'', etc.) since the ''u'' is absent to begin with.
'Exceptions'. American usage most often retains the ''u'' in the word '', which comes from Scots, not Latin or French; '' is a common variant of '' in the U.S.; the name of the herb ''savory'' is thus spelled everywhere (although the probably related adjective ''savo(u)ry'' does have a ''u'' in the UK). The British spelling is very common for "honour" (and "favour") on wedding invitations in the United States.[20]
'Commonwealth usage'. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. In Canada ''-or'' endings are not uncommon, particularly in the Prairie Provinces, though they are rarer in Eastern Canada.[17] In Australia, ''-or'' terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions,[17] usually in local and regional newspapers, though ''-our'' is almost universal. The name of the Australian Labor Party is a remnant of this trend, having been founded in 1891.
''-re'' / ''-er''
In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by ''-re'', with the ''-re'' unstressed and pronounced . Most of these words have the ending ''-er'' in the U.S. The difference is most common for words ending ''-bre'' or ''-tre'': British spellings ''accoutre(ment)'', ''goitre'', ''litre'', ''lustre'', ''mitre'', ''nitre'', ''reconnoitre'', ''saltpetre'', ''spectre'', ''centre'', ''titre''; ''calibre'', ''fibre'', ''sabre'', and ''sombre'' all have ''-er'' in American spelling. The ending ''-cre'', as in ''acre'', ''lucre'', ''massacre'', ''mediocre'', is preserved in American English, to indicate the ''c'' is pronounced rather than . After other consonants, there are not many ''-re'' endings even in British English: ''louvre'', ''manoeuvre'' after ''-v-''; ''meagre'', ''ogre'' after ''-g-''; ''euchre'', ''ochre'', ''sepulchre'' after ''-ch-''. In the U.S., ''ogre'' and ''euchre'' are standard; ''manoeuvre'' and ''sepulchre'' are usually ''maneuver'' and ''sepulcher''; and the other ''-re'' forms listed are variants of the equivalent ''-er'' form.
The ''e'' preceding the ''r'' is retained in U.S. derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, ''fibers'', ''reconnoitered'', ''centering'', which are, naturally, ''fibres'', ''reconnoitred'' and ''centring'' respectively in British usage. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, ''central'', ''fibrous'', ''spectral''. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an ''-re'' British spelling: for example, ''entry'' derives 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'', ''winner'') and comparative (''louder'', ''nicer'') forms. One consequence is the British distinction of ''meter'' for a measuring instrument from ''metre'' for the unit of measurement. However, while poetic metre is often ''-re'', pentameter, hexameter, etc. are always ''-er''.
'Exceptions.' Many other words have ''-er'' in British English. These include Germanic words like ''anger'', ''mother'', ''timber'', ''water'',[23], and Romance words like ''danger'', ''quarter'', ''river''. Some ''-er'' words, like many ''-re'' words, have a cognate in Modern French spelled with ''-re'': among these are ''December'', ''diameter'', ''disaster'', ''enter'', ''letter'', ''member'', ''minister'', ''monster'', ''number'', ''oyster'', ''powder'', ''proper'', ''sober'', ''tender''.
''Theater'' is the prevailing American spelling and is used by America's national theater as well as major American newspapers such as the New York Times (theater section) to refer to both the dramatic arts as well as to buildings where performances take place; yet ''theatre'' is also current, witness Broadway and ''The New Yorker''. In American English, ''theatre'' is particularly common in the two aforementioned uses. Americans also often make the distinction of using ''theater'' in reference to cinema, (e.g. ''movie theater'') while using ''theatre'' when speaking of stage productions. Some places in the United States have "Centre" in their names, named both before and after spelling reform, and there are very occasional uses of "Center" in England [4]).
More recent French loanwords retain an ''-re'' spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used ( rather than ), as with ''double-entendre'', ''genre'', or ''oeuvre''. However, the unstressed pronunciation of an ''-er'' ending is used more or less frequently with some words, including ''cadre'', ''macabre'', ''maître d', Notre Dame, ''piastre'', and ''timbre''.
'Commonwealth usage'.[24] The ''-re'' endings are standard throughout the Commonwealth. The ''-er'' spellings are recognised, as minor variants, only in Canada.
''-ce'' / ''-se''
Nouns ending in ''-ce'' with ''-se'' verb forms: American English and British English both retain the noun/verb distinction in ''advice'' / ''advise'' and ''device'' / ''devise'', but American English has lost the same distinction with ''licence'' / ''license'' and ''practice'' / ''practise'' that British spelling retains. American English uses ''practice'' and ''license'' for both meanings. Also, American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for ''defense'' and ''offense'', which are usually ''defence'' and ''offence'' in British English; similarly there are the American ''pretense'' and British ''pretence''; but derivatives such as ''defensive'', ''offensive'', and ''pretension'' are always thus spelled in both systems.
'Commonwealth usage'. Canadian English generally follows British usage for ''defence'' and ''offence'' and mostly for ''licence''/''license'' as well, although ''licence'' is sometimes used for the verb; both ''pretence'' and ''pretense'' are found, as are ''practice'' and ''practise'' for both noun and verb. Rest of the Commonwealth as UK.
''-xion'' / ''-ction''
The spellings ''connexion'', ''inflexion'', ''deflexion'', ''reflexion'' are now somewhat rare in everyday British usage, but are not known at all in the U.S: the more common ''connection'', ''inflection'', ''deflection'', ''reflection'' have almost become the standard internationally. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' the older spellings are more etymologically conservative, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root ''-xio''. The U.S. usage derives from Webster who discarded ''-xion'' in favour of ''-ction'' for analogy with such verbs as ''connect''.[25]
''Connexion'' has found preference again amongst recent British government initiatives such as Connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until the early 1980s, The Times of London also used ''connexion'' as part of its house style.[26] It is still used in legal texts and British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling ''connexion'' to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons.
In both forms, ''complexion'' (which comes from the stem ''complex'') is standard and ''complection'' is not.[27] However, the adjective ''complected'' (as in "dark complected"), although sometimes objected to, can be used as an alternative to ''complexioned'' in the U.S.,[27] but is quite unknown in this sense in the UK, although there is an extremely rare usage to mean ''complicated'' (''OED''). Note, however, that ''crucifiction'' is simply an error in either form of English; ''crucifixion'' is the correct spelling.
Greek-derived spellings
''-ise'' / ''-ize''
American spelling accepts only ''-ize'' endings in most cases, such as ''organize'', ''recognize'', and ''realize''. British usage accepts both ''-ize'' and the more French-looking ''-ise'' (''organise'', ''recognise'', ''realise''). However, the ''-ize'' spelling is now rarely used in the UK in the mass media and newspapers, and is hence often incorrectly regarded as an Americanism,[29] despite being preferred by some authoritative British sources, including ''Fowler's Modern English Usage'' and the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', which until recently did not list the ''-ise'' form of many individual words, even as an alternative. Indeed, it firmly deprecates this usage, stating, "[T]he suffix…, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Gr[eek] ''-ιζειν'', L[atin] ''-izāre''; and, as the pronunciation is also with ''z'', there is no reason why in English the special French spelling in ''-iser'' should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic."[30] Noah Webster rejected ''-ise'' for the same reasons.[31]
But the OED might be fighting a losing battle. The ''-ise'' form is used often, but seemingly not always by the British government and is more prevalent in common usage within the UK today; the ratio between ''-ise'' and ''-ize'' stands at 3:2 in the British National Corpus.[32] The OED spelling (which can be indicated by the registered IANA language tag 'en-GB-oed'), and thus ''-ize'', is used in many British-based academic publications, such as ''Nature'', the ''Biochemical Journal'' and ''The Times Literary Supplement''. In Australia and New Zealand ''-ise'' spellings strongly prevail; the Australian ''Macquarie Dictionary'', among other sources, gives the ''-ise'' spelling first. The ''-ise'' form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie Dictionary. Conversely, Canadian usage is essentially like American, although ''-ise'' is occasionally found in Canada. Worldwide, ''-ize'' endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organisations.
The same pattern applies to derivatives and inflections such as ''colonisation''/''colonization''.
Note that not all spellings are interchangeable; some verbs take the ''-z-'' form exclusively, for instance ''capsize'', ''seize'' (except in the legal phrase ''to be seised of''/''to stand seised to''), ''size'' and ''prize'' (only in the "appraise" sense), whereas others take only ''-s-'': ''advertise'', ''advise'', ''apprise'', ''arise'', ''chastise'', ''circumcise'', ''incise'', ''excise'', ''comprise'', ''compromise'', ''demise'', ''despise'', ''devise'', ''disguise'', ''exercise'', ''franchise'', ''improvise'', ''merchandise'', ''revise'', ''supervise'', ''surmise'', ''surprise'', and ''televise''. Finally, the verb ''prise'' (meaning to force or lever) is spelled ''prize'' in the U.S. and ''prise'' everywhere else, including Canada,[33] although in North American English ''pry'' (a back-formation from or alteration of ''prise'') is often used in its place.[34]
-yse / -yze
The distribution of ''-yse'' and ''-yze'' endings, as in ''analyse''/''analyze'', is different: the former is British, the latter American. Thus, UK ''analyse'', ''catalyse'', ''hydrolyse'', ''paralyse''; U.S. ''analyze'', ''catalyze'', ''hydrolyze'', ''paralyze''. However, ''analyse'' was commonly spelled ''analyze'' from the first — a spelling also accepted by Samuel Johnson; the word, which came probably from French ''analyser'', on Greek analogy would have been ''analysize'', from French ''analysiser'', from which ''analyser'' was formed by haplology.[35] In Canada, ''-yze'' prevails; in Australia, ''-yse'' stands alone.
''-ogue'' / ''-og''
Some words of Greek origin, a few of which derive from Greek ''λόγος'', can end either in ''-ogue'' or in ''-og'': ''analog(ue)'', ''catalog(ue)'', ''dialog(ue)'', ''demagog(ue)'', ''pedagog(ue)'', ''monolog(ue)'', ''homolog(ue)'', etc. In the UK (and generally in the Commonwealth), the ''-ogue'' endings are the standard. In the U.S., ''catalog'' has a slight edge over ''catalogue''[36] (note the inflected forms, ''cataloged'' and ''cataloging'' vs. ''catalogued'' and ''cataloguing''); ''analog'' is standard for the adjective, but both ''analogue'' and ''analog'' are current for the noun; in all other cases the ''-gue'' endings strongly prevail,[37] except for such expressions as ''dialog box'' in computing, which are also used in the UK. Finally, in Canada and Australia as well as the U.S. ''analog'' has currency as a technical term[38] (e.g. in electronics, as in "analog computer" and many video game consoles might have an ''analog stick'').
Simplification of ''ae'' (''æ'') and ''oe'' (''œ'')
Many words are written with ''ae'' or ''oe'' in British English, but a single ''e'' in American English. The sound in question is or (or unstressed ). Examples (with non-American letter in 'bold'): ''p'a'edophilia'', ''an'a'emia'', ''an'a'esthesia'', ''c'a'esium'', ''diarrh'o'ea'', ''gyn'a'ecology'', ''h'a'emophilia'', ''leuk'a'emia'', '''o'esophagus'', '''o'estrogen'', ''orthop'a'edic'', ''p'a'ediatric''. Words where British usage varies include ''encyclop'a'edia'', ''f'o'etus'' (though the British medical community deems this variant unacceptable for the purposes of journal articles and the like, since the Latin spelling is actually ''fetus''), ''hom'o'eopathy'', ''medi'a'eval''. In American usage, ''aesthetics'' and ''archaeology'' prevail over ''esthetics'' and ''archeology'',[39] while ''oenology'' is a minor variant of ''enology''. In more modern legislative enactments, ''Subpena'' is gaining currency over ''Subpoena''.[40]
The Ancient Greek diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliterated into Latin as
'Commonwealth usage'. The spellings with just ''e'' are generally preferred in Canada and increasingly used in Australia.[43]
Internationally, the American spelling is closer to the way most languages spell such words; for instance, almost all Romance languages (which tend to have more phonemic spelling) lack the ''ae'' and ''oe'' spellings (a notable exception is French), as do Swedish, Polish, and others, while Dutch uses them ("ae" is rare and "oe" is the normal representation of the sound (while written "u" represents either the sound ''y'' or '' in IPA)). Danish and Norwegian retain the original ligatures. German, through umlauts, retains its equivalent of the ligature, for when written without the umlaut, words resemble the British usage (i.e. ''ä'' becomes ''ae'' and ''ö'' becomes ''oe''). Similarly, Hungarian uses "é" as a replacement for "ae" (although it becomes "e" sometimes), and the special character "ő" (sometimes "ö") for "oe".
Compounds and hyphens
British English often prefers hyphenated compounds, such as ''counter-attack'', whereas American English discourages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no compelling reason, so ''counterattack'' 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'').[44]
Doubled consonants
Doubled in British English
The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Generally this occurs only when the word's final syllable ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, and the syllable is stressed; but in British English, a final ''-l'' is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed.[45] This exception is no longer usual in American English, apparently due to Noah Webster.[46] The ''-ll-'' spellings are nonetheless still regarded as acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.
★ The British English doubling is required for all inflections and for the suffixes ''-er'', ''-or''. Therefore, British ''modelling'', ''quarrelled'', ''cruellest'', ''traveller'', ''counsellor''; American usually ''modeling'', ''quarreled'', ''cruelest'', ''traveler'', ''counselor''.
★
★ ''parallel'' keeps a single ''-l-'' in British English, as in American English (''paralleling'', ''unparalleled''), to avoid a cluster ''-llell-''.
★
★ Words with two vowels before ''l'' are covered where the first either acts as a consonant (Br ''equalling'', ''initialled''; US usually ''equaling'', ''initialed'') or belongs to a separate syllable (Br ''fu•el•ling'', ''di•alled''; US usually ''fu•el•ing'' ''di•aled'')
★
★
★ But British ''woollen'' is a further exception (US ''woolen''); also, ''wooly'' is accepted in America though ''woolly'' dominates in both.[47]
★ Endings ''-ize''/''-ise'', ''-ism'', ''-ist'', ''-ish'' usually do not double the ''l'' in British English: ''normalise'', ''dualism'', ''novelist'', ''devilish''
★
★ Exceptions: ''tranquillise''; ''duellist'', ''medallist'', ''panellist'', sometimes ''triallist''
★ For ''-ous'', British English has a single ''l'' in ''scandalous'' and ''perilous'', but two in ''marvellous'' and ''libellous''. For ''-ee'', British English has ''libellee''.
★ American English has unstressed ''-ll-'', as in the UK, in some words where the root has ''-l''. These are cases where the alteration occurs in the source language, often Latin. (Examples: ''bimetallism'', ''cancellation'', ''chancellor'', ''crystallize'', ''excellent'', ''tonsillitis'')
★ But both dialects have ''compelled'', ''excelling'', ''propelled'', ''rebelling'' (notice the stress difference); ''revealing'', ''fooling'' (double vowel before the l); ''hurling'' (consonant before the l).
★ Canadian and Australian English largely follow British usage.[45]
Among consonants other than ''l'', practice varies for some words, such as where the final syllable has secondary stress or an unreduced vowel. In the U.S., the spellings ''kidnaped'' and ''worshiped'', introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s,[49] are common alongside ''kidnapped'' and ''worshipped'', the only standard British spellings.
Miscellaneous:
★ British ''calliper'' or ''caliper''; American ''caliper''.
★ British ''jewellery''; American ''jewelry''. According to Fowler, ''jewelry'' used to be the "rhetorical and poetic" spelling in the UK. Canada has both. Likewise, Commonwealth (including Canada) has ''jeweller'' and U.S. has ''jeweler'' for a jewel(le)ry retailer.
Doubled in American English
Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single ''l'' and Americans usually use a double ''l''. These include
''wil(l)ful'', ''skil(l)ful'', ''thral(l)dom'', ''appal(l)'', ''fulfil(l)'', ''fulfil(l)ment'', ''enrol(l)ment'', ''instal(l)ment''. In the UK ''ll'' is used occasionally in ''distil(l)'', ''instil(l)'', ''enrol(l)'' and ''enthral(l)ment'', and often in ''enthral(l)''. Former spellings ''instal'', ''fulness'', and ''dulness'' are now rare.[50] The Scottish ''tolbooth'' is cognate with ''toll booth'' but has a specific distinct sense.
The preceding words have monosyllabic cognates always written with ''-ll'': ''will'', ''skill'', ''thrall'', ''pall'', ''fill'', ''roll'', ''stall'', ''still''. Comparable cases where a single ''l'' occurs in American English include ''full''→''useful'', ''handful'', etc.; ''all''→''almighty'', ''altogether'', etc.; ''null''→''annul'', ''annulment''; ''till''→''until''; ''well''→''welfare'', ''welcome''; ''toll''→''extol''; ''spell''→''dispel''; ''chill''→''chilblain''; and others where the connection is less transparent. Note that British ''fulfil'' and American ''fulfill'' are never ''fullfill'' or ''fullfil''.
Dr Johnson wavered on this issue; his dictionary of 1755 lemmatises ''distil'' and ''instill'', ''downhil'' and ''uphill''.[51]
Dropped e
British English sometimes keeps silent ''e'' when adding suffixes where American English does not.
★ British prefers ''ageing'',[52] American usually ''aging'' (compare ''raging'', ''ageism''). UK often ''routeing'';[53] U.S. usually ''routing'' (for ''route''; ''rout'' makes ''routing'' everywhere). Both systems retain the silent ''e'' in ''dyeing'', ''singeing'', ''swingeing'', to distinguish from ''dying'', ''singing'', ''swinging''. UK often ''whingeing'', U.S. less so; ''whinge'' is chiefly British. Both systems vary for ''tinge'' and ''twinge''; both prefer ''cringing'', ''hinging'', ''lunging'', ''syringing''.
★ Before ''-able'', UK prefers ''likeable'', ''liveable'', ''rateable'', ''saleable'', ''sizeable'', ''unshakeable'', [54] where U.S. prefers to drop the ''-e''; but UK as U.S. prefers ''breathable'', ''curable'', ''datable'', ''lovable'', ''movable'', ''notable'', ''provable'', ''quotable'', ''scalable'', ''solvable'', ''usable'',[54] and those where the root is polysyllabic, like ''believable'' or ''decidable''. Both systems retain the silent ''e'' when necessary to preserve a soft ''c'' or ''g'', as in ''traceable'', ''changeable''; both retain ''e'' after ''-dge'', as in ''knowledgeable'', ''unbridgeable''.
★ Both ''abridgment'' and the more regular ''abridgement'' are current in the U.S., only the latter in the UK.[56] Similarly for ''lodg(e)ment''. Both ''judgement'' and ''judgment'' can be found everywhere, although the latter strongly prevails in the U.S. and the former prevails in the UK[57] except in law, where ''judgment'' is standard. Similarly for ''abridgment''. Both prefer ''fledgling'' to ''fledgeling'', but ''ridgeling'' to ''ridgling''.
★ The informal Briticisms ''[58] and ''[58] usually retain ''e''; more established words like ''slavish'' and ''bluish'' usually do not.
Different spellings, different connotations
★ ''artefact'' or ''artifact'': In British usage, ''artefact'' is the main spelling and ''artifact'' a minor variant;[60] however, some speakers claim to write ''artefact'' to mean “a product of artisanry” but ''artifact'' when the meaning is “a flaw in experimental results caused by the experiment itself”. In American English, ''artifact'' is the usual spelling, although it is regarded as nonstandard by some U.S. authorities. Canadians prefer ''artifact'' and Australians ''artefact'', according to their respective dictionaries.[61]
★ ''dependant'' or ''dependent'': British dictionaries distinguish between ''dependent'' (adjective) and ''dependant'' (noun); in the U.S., ''dependent'' is usual for both noun and adjective.
★ ''disc'' or ''disk'': traditionally, ''disc'' used to be British and ''disk'' American. Both spellings are etymologically sound (Greek ''diskos'', Latin ''discus''), although ''disk'' is earlier. In computing, ''disc'' is used for optical discs (e.g. a CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile/Video Disc)) while ''disk'' is used for products using magnetic storage (e.g. floppy disk and hard disk, short for diskette).[62] For this limited application, these spellings are used in both the U.S. and the Commonwealth.
★ ''enquiry'' or ''inquiry'':[63] according to Fowler, ''inquiry'' should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and ''enquiry'' to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the OED, on the other hand, lists ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as ''Chambers 21st Century Dictionary'' [6], present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer ''inquiry'' for the "formal inquest" sense. In the U.S., only ''inquiry'' is commonly used. In Australia, ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' are often interchangeable, but ''inquiry'' prevails in writing; both are current in Canada, where ''enquiry'' is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research.
★ ''ensure'' or ''insure'': in the UK (and Australia), the word ''ensure'' (to make sure, to make certain) has a distinct meaning from the word ''insure'' (often followed by ''against'' – to guarantee or protect against, typically by means of an "insurance policy"). The distinction is only about a century old,[64] and this helps explain why in (North) America ''ensure'' is just a variant of ''insure'' more often than not.
★ ''matt'' or ''matte'': in the UK, ''matt'' refers to a non-glossy surface, and ''matte'' to the motion-picture technique; in the U.S., ''matte'' covers both.[65]
★ ''programme'' or ''program'': the British ''programme'' is a 19th-century French version of ''program'', which first appeared in Scotland in the 17th century and is the only spelling found in the U.S. The OED entry, written around 1908 and listing both spellings, said ''program'' was preferable, since it conformed to the usual representation of the Greek as in ''anagram'', ''diagram'', ''telegram'' etc. In British English, ''program'' is the common spelling for computer programs, but for other meanings ''programme'' is used. In Australia, ''program'' has been endorsed by government style for all senses since the 1960s,[66] although ''programme'' is also common; see also the name of ''The Micallef Program(me)''. In Canada, ''program'' prevails, and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary makes no meaning-based distinction between it and ''programme''; many Canadian government documents use ''programme'' in all senses of the word also to match the spelling of the French equivalent.[66]
Compare also ''meter'', for which an older English written distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings once existed, but was obviated in the regularisation of American spellings.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Proper names formed as proper acronyms are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, ''Nasa / NASA'' or ''Unicef / UNICEF''.[68] This does not apply to most initialisms, such as ''USA'' or ''HTML''; though it is occasionally done for some, such as PC (Police Constable).[69]
Contractions, where the final letter is present, are often written in British English without stops/periods (''Mr'', ''Mrs'', ''Dr'', ''St''). Abbreviations where the final letter is not present generally do take stops/periods (such as ''vol.'', ''etc.'', ''ed.''). (British English shares this convention with French: ''Mlle'', ''Mme'', ''Dr'', ''Ste'', but ''M.'' for ''Monsieur''.) In American English, abbreviations like ''St.'', ''Mr.'', ''Mrs.'', and ''Dr.'' always require stops/periods.
Miscellaneous spelling differences
| UK | U.S. | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| annexe | annex | To ''annex'' is the verb in both Commonwealth and American usage; however, when speaking of ''an annex(e)'' (the noun referring to an extension of a main building, not military conquest, which would be ''annexation''), it is usually spelt with an ''-e'' at the end in the Commonwealth (except Canada), but in the U.S. it is not. |
| any more | anymore | In sense "any longer", the single-word form is usual in North America and Australia but unusual in the UK, at least in formal writing.[70] Other senses always have the two-word form; thus Americans distinguish "I couldn't love you anymore [so I left you]" from "I couldn't love you any more [than I already do]". |
| axe | ax | Both noun and verb; ''axe'' used also in the U.S. The American form is more etymologically conservative (they come from Old English ''æx'') |
| camomile, chamomile | chamomile, camomile | 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 U.S. ''chamomile'' dominates in all senses. In Canada ''chamomile'' seems to prevail. |
| cheque | check | In banking. Hence ''pay cheque'' and ''paycheck''. Accordingly, the North American term for what is elsewhere known as a ''current account'' or ''cheque account'' is spelled ''chequing account'' in Canada and ''checking account'' in the U.S. Some U.S. financial institutions, notably American Express, prefer ''cheque''. |
| chequer | checker | As in ''chequerboard''/''checkerboard'', ''chequered''/''checkered flag'', etc. Canada as U.S.[71] |
| cosy | cozy | In all senses (adjective, noun, verb). In Canada ''cozy'' prevails. |
| cipher, cypher | cipher | Both spellings are quite old. |
| draught | draft | The UK uses usually uses ''draft'' for all senses as a verb;[58] for a preliminary version of a document; for an order of payment (bank draft), and for military conscription (although this last meaning is not as common as in American English). It uses ''draught'' for drink from a cask (draught beer); for animals used for pulling heavy loads (draught horse); for a current of air; for a ship's minimum depth of water to float; and for the game ''draughts'', known as ''checkers'' in the U.S. It uses either ''draught'' or ''draft'' for a plan or sketch (but almost always ''draughtsman'' in this sense; a ''draftsman'' drafts legal documents). The U.S. uses ''draft'' in all these cases (except in regard to drinks, where ''draught'' is sometimes found). 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.[73] The pronunciation is always the same for all meanings within a dialect (RP , General American ). The spelling ''draught'' is older; ''draft'' appeared first in the late 16th century.[74] |
| glycerine | glycerin, glycerine | Scientists use the term glycerol. |
| jail, gaol | jail | ''Jail'' prevails everywhere, although ''gaol'' is still an official spelling in Australia; in the UK, ''gaol'' and ''gaoler'' are used, apart from literary usage, chiefly to describe a mediaeval building and guard. |
| grey | gray | ''Grey'' became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others,[75] and is but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer ''grey''. Some American writers tend to assign wistful, positive connotations to ''grey'', as in "a grey fog hung over the skyline", whereas ''gray'' often carries connotations of drabness, "a gray, gloomy day." |
| kerb | curb | For the noun designating the edge of a roadway (or the edge of a (UK) pavement/(U.S.) sidewalk/(Australia) footpath). ''Curb'' is the older spelling, and in the UK as in the U.S. is still the proper spelling for the verb meaning ''restrain''.[76] Canada as U.S. |
| liquorice | licorice | ''Licorice'' prevails in Canada and is common in Australia, but is rarely found in the UK; ''liquorice'', which has a folk etymology cognate with ''liquor'',[77] is all but nonexistent in the U.S. ("chiefly British", according to dictionaries).[78] |
| mollusc | mollusk, mollusc | The related adjective is normally ''molluscan'' in both. |
| mould | mold | In all senses of the word. In Canada both have wide currency.[79] . |
| moult | molt | In Canada both have wide currency. |
| neurone, neuron | neuron | ''Neuron'' prevails in Canada and Australia; both are common in the UK. |
| pyjamas | pajamas | Pronounced in the UK, or in the U.S. Canada has both.[80] |
| plough | plow | Both date back to Middle English; the OED records several dozen variants. In the UK, ''plough'' has been the standard spelling for about three centuries.[81] Although ''plow'' was Webster's pick, ''plough'' continued to have currency in the U.S., as the entry in ''Webster's Third'' (1961) implies; newer dictionaries label ''plough'' "chiefly British". Canada has both.[82] |
| sceptic (-al, -ism) | skeptic (-al, -ism) | The American spelling, akin to Greek, preferred by Fowler, and used by many Canadians, is the earlier form.[83] ''Sceptic'' also pre-dates the settlement of the U.S. and 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;[84] ''sceptic'', an equal variant in ''Webster's Third'' (1961), has now become "chiefly British". Australians generally follow British usage. All are pronounced with a hard "c", though in French the letter is effectively silent and so confusible with ''septique''. |
| storey | story | Level of a building. Note also the differing plural, ''storeys'' vs ''stories'' respectively. |
| sulphur | sulfur | ''Sulfur'' is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC). ''Sulphur'' was preferred by Johnson, is used by many British scientists and is still actively taught in British schools, prevails in Canada and Australia, and is also found in some American place names (e.g., Sulphur Springs, Texas and Sulphur, Louisiana).[85] |
| tyre | tire | Wheel rubber part. Canada as U.S. ''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 pneumatic tyres, possibly because it was used in some patent documents,[86] though many continued to use ''tire'' for the iron variety. The Times newspaper was still using ''tire'' as late as 1905. |
| vice | vise | The two-jaw tool. Americans (and Canadians) retain a medieval distinction between ''vise'' (the tool) and ''vice'' (the sin and the Latin prefix meaning "deputy"), both of which are ''vice'' in the UK (and Australia).[87] |
| yoghurt, yogurt | yogurt | ''Yoghurt'' is an ''also''-ran in the U.S., as ''yoghourt'' is in the UK. Although Oxford Dictionaries have always preferred ''yogurt'', in current British usage ''yoghurt'' seems to be preferred. In Canada ''yogurt'' prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford preferring ''yogourt'',[88] which has the advantage of being bilingual, English and French. Australia as the UK. Whatever the spelling, the word has different pronunciations in the UK (or ) and the U.S. . Australia as U.S. with regard to pronunciation. |
See also
★ American and British English differences
★ List of British words not widely used in the United States
★ List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom
★ List of words having different meanings in British and American English
★ American and British English pronunciation differences
★ The Chicago Manual of Style
★ English orthography (spelling)
★ Canadian English
References
★
★ The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, , Pam, Peters, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-62181-X
★ ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 20 vols. (1989) Oxford University Press.
★ ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'' (1961; repr. 2002) Merriam-Webster, Inc.
★ Burchfield, R. W. (Editor); Fowler, H. W. (1996). ''The New Fowler's Modern English Usage''. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-869126-2
★ Fowler, Henry; Winchester, Simon (introduction) (2003 reprint). ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series)''. Oxford Press. ISBN 0-19-860506-4.
★ Hargraves, Orin (2003). ''Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515704-4
★ Nicholson, Margaret; (1957). "A Dictionary of American-English Usage Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage". Signet, by arrangement with Oxford University Press.
★ ''The Chicago Manual of Style''
★ Hart's Rules
★ The Guardian style guide
Notes
1. [shorter oxford English dictionary]
2. [shorter oxford English dictionary]
3. History & Etymology of Aluminium
4. Peters, p. 63.
5. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. [1]
6. OED, ''shivaree''
7. Oxford English Dictionary, ''furore''.
8. Peters, p. 242
9. Oxford English Dictionary, ''mom'' and ''mam''
10. Oxford English Dictionary, ''persnickety''
11. Peters, p. 505
12. See, for example, the November 2006 BMA document entitled Selection for Specialty Training
13. Peters, p. 510.
14. Webster's Third, p. 24a.
15. Oxford English Dictionary, ''colour, color''.
16. Webster's Third, p. 24a.
17. Peters, p. 397.
18. Oxford English Dictionary, ''honour, honor''.
19. Webster's Third, p. 24a.
20. Letitia Baldrige's Complete Guide to the New Manners for the '90s: A Complete Guide to Etiquette, , Letitia, Baldrige, Rawson, ,
21. Peters, p. 397.
22. Peters, p. 397.
23. Although ''acre'' was spelled ''æcer'' in Old English and ''aker'' in Middle English, the ''acre'' spelling of Middle French was introduced in the 15th Century. Similarly, ''loover'' was respelled in the 17th Century by influence of the unrelated Louvre. (see OED, s.v. 'acre' and 'louvre')
24. Peters, p. 461.
25. 1989 ''Oxford English Dictionary:connexion, connection.''
26. The State of the Language—English Observed, , Philip, Howard, Hamish Hamilton, 1984,
27.
28.
29. ''Are spellings like 'privatize' and 'organize' Americanisms?''
30. Oxford English Dictionary, ''-ize''.
31. Hargraves, p. 22.
32. Peters, p. 298
33. Peters, p. 441
34. Peters, p. 446.
35. Oxford English Dictionary, ''analyse, analyze''
36. Both the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary have ''catalog'' as the main headword and ''catalogue'' as an equal variant.
37. Peters, p. 236.
38. Peters, p. 36.
39. Peters, p. 20.
40. See, e.g., California Code of Civil Procedure § 1985.5 and the earlier-enacted provisions in the same code. [5]
41. Webster's Third, p. 23a.
42. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, ''airplane''.
43. Peters, p. 20, p. 389
44. Peters, p. 258
45. Peters, p. 309.
46. Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, ''traveller, traveler''.
47. Peters, p. 581
48. Peters, p. 309.
49. ERRANT SPELLING: Moves for simplification turn Inglish into another langwaj
50. Peters, p. 283
51. Peters, p. 501.
52. Peters, p. 22.
53. Peters, p. 480. Also National Routeing Guide
54. British National Corpus
55. British National Corpus
56. Peters, p. 7
57. Peters, p. 303.
58. Concise OED, , , , , ,
59. Concise OED, , , , , ,
60. Oxford English Dictionary, ''artefact''.
61. Peters, p. 49.
62. "Executive summary" from review of "International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources"
63. Peters, p. 282.
64. Peters, p. 285
65. Peters, p. 340.
66. Peters, p. 443.
67. Peters, p. 443.
68. The Guardian Stylebook, , David, Marsh, Atlantic Books, ,
69. See for example Pc bitten on face in Tube attack
70. Peters, p. 41.
71. Peters, p. 104.
72. Concise OED, , , , , ,
73. Peters, p. 165.
74. Oxford English Dictionary, ''draught''.
75. Peters, p. 235
76. tiscali.reference. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
77. Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine, , Alfred, Ernout, Klincksieck, , ISBN 2252033592
78. Peters, p. 321.
79. Peters, p. 360
80. Peters, p. 449.
81. Oxford English Dictionary, ''plough, plow''.
82. Peters, p. 230.
83. Peters, p. 502.
84. Oxford English Dictionary, ''sceptic, skeptic''.
85. The contrasting spellings of the chemical elements 'Al' and 'S' mean that the American spelling ''aluminum sulfide'' becomes ''aluminum sulphide'' in Canada, and ''aluminium sulphide'' in the UK.
86. Peters, p. 553.
87. Peters, p. 556.
88. Peters, p. 587.
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psst.. try this: add to faves
