Wikivoyage:Spelling

This page in a nutshell: Destination guides should be written in the local variant of English. If the destination has no history of using English
and no clear preference for a variety to use, US English is used.

Shortcut:
wv:sp

This is a guide on issues of spelling and punctuation.

National varieties of English

Wikivoyage prefers no major national variety of English over any other. American English and British English differ in vocabulary (truck vs. lorry), spelling (center vs. centre), date formatting ("April 13" vs. "13 April") and very occasionally surface grammar. Indian, Irish, New Zealand, Pakistani, Singaporean and South African English are almost identical in spelling to British English, and Canada and Australia mostly use those spellings as well. These varieties are often collectively called Commonwealth English.

Some words are unique to a variety; in such cases, it's useful to gloss the meaning or the equivalent word in another variety in parentheses immediately after the first occurrence ("some drivers charge extra for the use of the trunk (boot) of their cabs"). Here, trunk and boot might not be known in some varieties, although cab and taxi are probably so widely known everywhere that it's not worth bothering with an explanation.

But it's no big deal. Don't worry if you're not familiar or comfortable with a particular variety of English. Just write in the style you're accustomed to, and eventually someone will come along and clean it up. However, it is generally seen as bad style to change the spelling without rhyme or reason or - worse yet - edit war over such trivial things as spelling.

A map of which spelling is used for which country. Red is British, dark purple is Canadian, yellow is Australian, green is NZ spelling and blue is American

The rule of thumb for articles related to the following countries (and articles about regions, cities, parks, and itineraries within them) is:

United States: American English
Canada: Canadian English
Australia, and Papua New Guinea: Australian English
Indonesia: Australian English
Liberia: American English
New Zealand, Cook Islands, and Niue: New Zealand English
Ireland: Irish English
South Africa: South African English
United Kingdom and most Commonwealth countries: British English
Brunei, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, all of South Asia and large parts of Africa: British English
Israel, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan: American English

The rule of thumb for the articles about the following continents is:

Africa: British
Asia: American
Europe: British
North America: American
Oceania: Australian
South America: American

If the destination has no history of using English and no clear preference for the variety to use, we prefer American English spelling. This isn't because American English is somehow better or to stomp on the rights, heritage, and cultures of other English-speaking countries. We just have decided to pick one default spelling style for consistency (however, there are some exceptions).

One exception to this is the preference for the British "traveller" rather than the American "traveler" in Wikivoyage project pages such as policy and guideline pages, expedition pages, and the name of the Wikivoyage:Travellers' pub. For articles, the general rule applies.

UK, Ireland, EU and most Commonwealth countries	South Africa	New Zealand	Australia	Canada	United States
acknowledgement	acknowledgement	acknowledgement	acknowledgement, acknowledgment	acknowledgement, acknowledgment	acknowledgment
aeroplane	aeroplane	aeroplane	aeroplane	airplane	airplane
ageing, aging	ageing, aging	ageing, aging	aging, ageing	aging, ageing	aging, ageing
all right	all right	alright, all right	alright, all right	all right	alright, all right
aluminium	aluminium	aluminium	aluminium	aluminum	aluminum
analyse	analyse	analyse	analyse	analyze	analyze
artefact	artefact	artefact, artifact	artefact, artifact	artifact	artifact
authorise, authorize	authorise, authorize	authorise	authorise, authorize	authorize	authorize
café, cafe	cafe	café, cafe	cafe	café, cafe	cafe
cancelled	cancelled	cancelled	cancelled	cancelled	canceled
catalogue	catalogue	catalogue	catalogue, catalog	catalogue	catalog, catalogue
centre	centre	centre	centre	centre	center
colour	colour	colour	colour	colour	color
co-operation	co-operation	co-operation	cooperation, co-operation	co-operation, cooperation	cooperation
defence	defence	defence	defence	defence	defense
dialogue	dialogue	dialogue	dialogue	dialogue	dialogue, dialog (conversation) dialog (text)
diarrhoea	diarrhoea	diarrhoea	diarrhoea, diarrhea	diarrhea	diarrhea
empanel, impanel	empanel, impanel	empanel, impanel	impanel, empanel	impanel, empanel	impanel, empanel
encyclopaedia, encyclopedia	encyclopaedia, encyclopedia	encyclopedia	encyclopedia	encyclopedia	encyclopedia
fjord	fjord	fiord	fjord, fiord	fjord, fiord	fjord
foetus, fetus	foetus	foetus	fetus, foetus	fetus	fetus
fulfil	fulfil	fulfil	fulfil, fulfill	fulfill	fulfill
grey	grey	grey	grey	grey	gray, grey
honour	honour	honour	honour	honour	honor
jail, gaol	jail, gaol	jail	jail, gaol	jail	jail
judgement, judgment	judgement, judgment	judgement	judgment, judgement	judgment, judgement	judgment
kerb (roadside) curb (restrain)	kerb (roadside) curb (restrain)	kerb (roadside) curb (restrain)	kerb (roadside) curb (restrain)	curb	curb
labour	labour	labour	labour^[1]	labour	labor
licence (n.), license (v.)	licence (n.), license (v.)	licence (n.), license (v.)	licence (n.), license (v.)	licence (n.), license (v.)	license (n. and v.)
liquorice	liquorice	liquorice	licorice	licorice	licorice
manoeuvre	manoeuvre	manoeuvre	manoeuvre	manoeuvre	maneuver
meagre	meagre	meagre	meagre	meagre	meager
mould	mould	mould	mould	mould	mold
organisation, organization	organisation, organization	organisation	organisation, organization	organization	organization
plough	plough	plough	plough	plow	plow
practice (n.), practise (v.)	practice (n.), practise (v.)	practice (n.), practise (v.)	practice (n.), practise (v.)	practice (n.), practise (v.)	practice (n. and v.)
computer program, training programme	computer program, training programme	computer program, training programme	computer program, training program theatre program	computer program, training program	computer program, training program
pyjamas	pyjamas	pyjamas	pyjamas	pyjamas, pajamas	pajamas
routeing, routing	routeing, routing	routeing, routing	routing	routing	routing
sceptic	sceptic	sceptic	sceptic	skeptic	skeptic
speciality	speciality	speciality, specialty	specialty	specialty	specialty
sombre	sombre	sombre	sombre	sombre	somber
sulphur	sulphur	sulphur	sulfur, sulphur	sulfur, sulphur	sulfur
theatre	theatre	theatre	theatre	theatre	theater, theatre
traveller	traveller	traveller	traveller, traveler	traveller	traveler, traveller
tyre	tyre	tyre	tyre	tire	tire
veranda	veranda	veranda	verandah	veranda	veranda
vice (fault and tool)	vice (fault and tool)	vice (fault and tool)	vice (fault and tool)	vice (fault) vise (tool)	vice (fault) vise (tool)
vigour	vigour	vigour	vigour	vigour	vigor
yoghurt, yogurt, yoghourt	yoghurt, yogurt	yoghurt, yogurt	yoghurt, yogurt	yogourt, yogurt, yoghurt, yoghourt	yogurt

Reference guides for US spelling

Words

Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Springfield, Mass.

Place names

National Geographic Atlas of the World, National Geographic Society, Washington DC
CIA World Factbook

Proper names

Some proper names do not follow spelling or punctuation conventions. Write them as they are used. Don't change them to conform to spelling conventions.

Joaquin Miller's home, "The Hights", rests on the heights of the Oakland hills.
King's Cross, St James's Park and Barons Court are London Underground stations.

It can be helpful to other editors to use an HTML comment to mark unconventional spellings in proper names:

* '''Café Art's''' - a popular cafe in the Paquis neighborhood of Geneva.

Corporate names

Wikivoyage does not follow all spelling idiosyncrasies employed by private corporations, particularly not when it comes to "corporate shouting", i.e. the practice to write the name of the company in ALL CAPS or with unusual punctuation (such as exclamation marks), which is considered touting.

Foreign words

See also: Wikivoyage:Foreign words

In general if there is a genuine need to use a foreign word, the spelling you'd encounter at the destination should be used. For instance "Strasse" when talking about a Swiss destination, but "Straße" when talking about a German or Austrian place.

Punctuation

Apostrophes

Plurals should not have apostrophes, which are used for the genitive.

"in the 1800s"; "1920s Jazz Age"
"apples and oranges"; "apples' and oranges' taste"

Hyphen vs. dash

Hyphens (-) indicate conjunction. There are three main uses:

In hyphenated placenames and personal names: Ivano-Frankivsk.
To link prefixes with their main terms in certain, specific, constructions (ultra-expensive, non-negotiable).
To link related terms in compound modifiers: gluten-free pizza.

Dashes: Two forms of dash are used on Wikivoyage: en dash (–) and em dash (—). To enter them, click on them in the toolbar that shows under the edit window (it enables insertion of various characters and symbols), or enter them manually as:

– or — (or {{emdash}})

Dashes are often used to mark divisions within a sentence: in pairs (parenthetical dashes, instead of parentheses or pairs of commas) or singly (perhaps instead of a colon). Dashes can clarify the sentence structure when there are already commas or parentheses, or both. In this case, use either unspaced em dashes or spaced en dashes, with consistency in any one article. You may use the following template to add an en-dash with spaces:

{{snd}} (adds a spaced en dash)

Cafe vs. café

As a general rule, omit the accent when using American, Australian and South African spellings; keep the accent when using British or Canadian spellings. However, for place names, use the name as it is spelled, regardless of the local language variant.

Although resume and coupe don't have much use in a travel guide, follow the same rule of thumb. Use accents for British and Canadian spelling, and omit the accent in Australian, South African and American spellings.

Francophone countries

For a large number of French-speaking countries, particularly in Africa, we use American spelling per the "no clear variety" rule. However, for these countries, keep the accents of loan words, when that spelling is acceptable in American English.