American and British English

6/12/2020 American and British English spelling differences - Wikipedia
American and British English spelling

differences
Despite the various English dialects spoken
from country to country and within
different regions of the same country, there
are only slight regional variations in
English orthography, the two most
recognised variations being British and
American spelling. Many of the differences
between American and British English date
back to a time when spelling standards had
not yet developed. For instance, some
spellings seen as "American" today were
once commonly used in Britain and some
British and American spellings around the world:
spellings seen as "British" were once
analyse/defence/labour/organise dominant, English is an
commonly used in the United States.
official or majority language
A "British standard" began to emerge analyse/defence/labour/organise dominant, English is not an
following the 1755 publication of Samuel official language
Johnson's A Dictionary of the English analyze/defense/labor/organize dominant, English is an official
Language, and an "American standard" or majority language
started following the work of Noah Webster analyze/defense/labor/organize dominant, English is not an
and in particular his An American
official language
Dictionary of the English Language, first
Canadian analyze/defence/labour/organize dominant, English
published in 1828.[1] Webster's efforts at
is one of two official languages
spelling reform were somewhat effective in
Australian analyse/defence/labour (but Labor Party)/organise
his native country, resulting in certain well-
known patterns of spelling differences dominant, English is an official language.
between the American and British varieties
of English. However, English-language
spelling reform has rarely been adopted otherwise, and so modern English orthography varies somewhat
between countries and is far from phonemic in any country.
Contents
Historical origins
Latin-derived spellings (often through Romance)
-our, -or
Derivatives and inflected forms
Exceptions
Commonwealth usage
-re, -er
Exceptions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-re,_-er 1/35
Commonwealth usage
-ce, -se
-xion, -ction
Greek-derived and Latin-derived spellings
ae and oe
Greek-derived spellings (often through Latin and Romance)
-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)
Origin and recommendations
Usage
Exceptions
-yse, -yze
-ogue, -og
Commonwealth usage
Doubled consonants
Doubled in British English
Doubled in American English
Dropped "e"
Hard and soft "c"
Different spellings for different meanings
Different spellings for different pronunciations
Past tense differences
Miscellaneous spelling differences
Compounds and hyphens
Acronyms and abbreviations
Punctuation
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Historical origins
In the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after
the publishing of influential dictionaries. Today's British English spellings mostly follow Johnson's A
Dictionary of the English Language (1755), while many American English spellings follow Webster's An
American Dictionary of the English Language ("ADEL", "Webster's Dictionary", 1828).[2]
Webster was a proponent of English spelling reform 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
Extract from the Orthography section of the first edition (1828) of Webster's "ADEL", which popularized the "American
standard" spellings of -er (6); -or (7); the dropped -e (8); -or (10); -se (11); and the doubling of consonants with a suffix
(15).
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".[3] William
Shakespeare's first folios, for example, used spellings like center and
color as much as centre and colour.[4][5] Webster did attempt to
introduce some reformed spellings, as did the Simplified Spelling
Board in the early 20th century, but most were not adopted. In
An 1814 American medical text Britain, the influence of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-
showing British English spellings French) spellings of words proved to be decisive. Later spelling
that were still in use ("tumours", adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on today's
"colour", "centres", etc.). 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,[6] and Canadians are somewhat more tolerant of foreign
spellings when compared with other English-speaking nationalities.[7] Australian spelling has also
strayed slightly from British spelling, with some American spellings incorporated as standard.[8] New
Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling, except in the word fiord (instead of fjord). There
is also an increasing use of macrons in words that originated in Māori 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., colour, flavour, behaviour, harbour,
honour, humour, labour, neighbour, rumour, splendour) end in -or in American English (color, flavor,
behavior, harbor, honor, humor, labor, neighbor, rumor, splendor). Wherever the vowel is unreduced
in pronunciation, e.g., contour, velour, paramour and troubadour the spelling is consistent 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, and the ending was spelled -our, -or or -ur.[9] After the Norman conquest
of England, the ending became -our to match the later Old French spelling.[10] The -our ending was not
only used in new English borrowings, but was also applied to the earlier borrowings that had used -or.[9]
However, -or was still sometimes found,[11] and the first three folios of Shakespeare's plays used both
spellings before they were standardised to -our in the Fourth Folio of 1685.[4] After the Renaissance, new
borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original -or ending and many words once ending in -our
(for example, chancellour and governour) went back 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 of the
other word. Some 16th- and early 17th-century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used for words
from Latin (e.g., color)[11] 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.[12]
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, perturbatour, inferiour, 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".[13]
English speakers who moved to America took these preferences with them, and H. L. Mencken notes that
"honor appears in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, but it seems to have been put there rather by
accident than by design". In Jefferson's original draft it is spelled "honour".[14] In Britain, examples of
color, flavor, behavior, harbor, and neighbor rarely appear in Old Bailey court records from the 17th and
18th centuries, whereas there are thousands of examples of their -our counterparts.[15] One notable
exception is honor. Honor and honour were equally frequent in Britain until the 17th century;[16] honor
still is, in the UK, the usual spelling as a person's name and appears in Honor Oak, a district of London.
Derivatives and inflected forms
In derivatives and inflected forms of the -our/or words, British usage depends on the nature of the suffix
used. The u is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (for example in
neighbourhood, humourless, and savoury) and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been adopted
into English (for example in favourite, honourable, and behaviourism). However, before Latin suffixes
that are not freely attachable to English words, the u:
may be dropped, for example in honorary, honorific, humorist, vigorous, humorous, laborious, and
invigorate;
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 colourist.[9]
In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all cases (for
example, favorite, savory etc.) since the u is absent to begin with.
Exceptions
American usage, in most cases, keeps the u in the word glamour, which comes from Scots, not Latin or
French. Glamor is sometimes used in imitation of the spelling reform of other -our words to -or.
Nevertheless, the adjective glamorous often drops the first "u". Saviour is a somewhat common variant
of savior in the US. The British spelling is very common for honour (and favour) in the formal language
of wedding invitations in the US.[17] The name of the Space Shuttle Endeavour has a u in it as the
spacecraft was named after Captain James Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour. The special car on Amtrak's
Coast Starlight train is known as the Pacific Parlour car, not Pacific Parlor. Proper names such as Pearl
Harbor or Sydney Harbour are usually spelled according to their native-variety spelling vocabulary.
The name of the herb savory is thus spelled 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 /ˈrɪɡər/ has a u in the UK; the medical term
rigor (sometimes /ˈraɪɡər/)[18] 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 was once somewhat common in American usage but has disappeared except in some
brand names such as Under Armour.
The cardinal numbers four and fourteen, when written as words, are always spelled with a u, as are the
ordinal numbers fourth and fourteenth. Forty and fortieth, however, are always spelled without a u.
Commonwealth usage
Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. Canadian English 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.[19] 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 in 1997 and the first Oxford Canadian 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 cultural uniquenesses of Canada (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 the Australian Labor Party, 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 American
labor movement[20] and King O'Malley. Aside from that, -our is now almost universal in Australia. New
Zealand English, while sharing some words and syntax with Australian English, 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 /ə(r)/). In modern American English, most of these words have the ending -
er.[21][22] The difference is most common for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings calibre, centre,
fibre, goitre, litre, lustre, manoeuvre, meagre, metre, mitre, nitre, ochre, reconnoitre, sabre, saltpetre,
sepulchre, sombre, spectre, theatre (see exceptions) and titre 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 America, following the publication of
Webster's dictionary in the early 19th century, American English started exclusively using -er.[5] In
addition, some words have been changed from -re to -er in both varieties. These include chapter,
December, disaster, enter, filter, letter, member, minister, monster, November, number, October, offer,
oyster, powder, proper, September, sober 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 and barometer.
The e preceding the r is kept in American inflected forms of nouns and verbs, for example, fibers,
reconnoitered, centering, which are fibres, reconnoitred, and centring respectively in British English.
Centring is an interesting example, since, according to the OED, it is a "word ... of 3 syllables (in careful
pronunciation)"[23] (i.e., /ˈsɛntərɪŋ/), yet there is no vowel in the spelling corresponding to the second
syllable (/ə/). The OED third edition (revised entry of June 2016) allows either two or three syllables.
The three-syllable version is listed as only the American pronunciation of centering on the Oxford
Dictionaries Online website. The e is dropped for other derivations, for example, central, fibrous,
spectral. However, 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.[24]
The difference relates only to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix for agentive (reader,
winner, user) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One outcome is the British distinction of meter for
a measuring instrument from metre for the unit of length. However, while "poetic metre" is often -re,
pentameter, hexameter etc. are always -er.[25]
Exceptions
Many other words have -er in British English. These include Germanic words; such as anger, mother,
timber and water and Romance words danger, quarter and river.
The ending -cre, as in acre,[26] lucre, massacre, and mediocre, is used in both British and American
English to show that the c is pronounced /k/ rather than /s/. The spellings ogre and euchre are also the
same in both British and American English.
Theater 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., "movie theaters"); for example, a national
newspaper such as The New York Times would use theater in its entertainment section. However, the
spelling theatre appears in the names of many New York City theatres on Broadway[27] (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 Theater", but the organization uses "re" in the spelling of
its name.[28][29] The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. has the more
common American spelling theater in its references to The Eisenhower Theater, part of the Kennedy
Center.[30] Some cinemas outside New York also use the theatre spelling.[31] (The word "theater" in
American English is a place where 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.)
Furthermore, the spelling theatre is sometimes used in the United States 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 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".[32]
Some placenames in the United States use Centre in their names. Examples include the Stonebriar
Centre mall, the cities of Rockville Centre and Centreville, Centre County and Centre College. Sometimes,
these places were named before spelling changes but more often the spelling merely serves as an
affectation.
For British accoutre, the American practice varies: the Merriam-Webster Dictionary prefers the -re
spelling,[33] but The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language prefers the -er spelling.[34]
More recent French loanwords keep the -re spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when
a French-style pronunciation is used (/rə/ rather than /ə(r)/), as with double entendre, genre and
oeuvre. However, the unstressed /ə(r)/ pronunciation of an -er ending is used more (or less) often with
some words, including cadre, macabre, maître d', Notre Dame, piastre, and timbre.
Commonwealth usage
The -re endings are mostly standard throughout the Commonwealth. The -er spellings are recognized as
minor variants in Canada, partly due to American influence, and are sometimes used in proper names
(such as Toronto's controversially named Centerpoint Mall).[12]
-ce, -se
For advice/advise and device/devise, American English and British English both keep the noun–verb
distinction both graphically and phonetically (where the pronunciation is -/s/ for the noun and -/z/ for
the verb). For licence/license or practice/practise, British English also keeps the noun–verb distinction
graphically (although phonetically the two words in each pair are homophones with -/s/ pronunciation).
On the other hand, American English uses license and practice for both nouns and verbs (with -/s/
pronunciation in both cases too).
American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for defense and offense, which are defence and
offence in British English. Likewise, there are the American pretense and British pretence; but
derivatives such as defensive, offensive, and pretension are always thus spelled in both systems.
Australian[35] and Canadian usage generally follows British.
-xion, -ction
The spelling connexion is now rare in everyday British usage, its use lessening as knowledge of Latin
lessens,[12] and it is not used at all in the US: the more common connection has become the standard
worldwide. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the older spelling is more etymologically
conservative, since the original Latin word had -xio-. The American usage comes from Webster, who
abandoned -xion and preferred -ction.[36] Connexion was still the house style of The Times of London
until the 1980s and was still used by the British Post Office for its telephone services in the 1970s, but
had by then been overtaken by connection in regular usage (for example, in more popular newspapers).
Complexion (which comes from complex) is standard worldwide and complection is rare.[37] However,
the adjective complected (as in "dark-complected"), although sometimes objected to, is considered just as
standard in the US as complexioned,[38] but is not used in this way in the UK, although there is a rare
usage to mean complicated.[39]
In some cases, words with "old-fashioned" spellings are retained widely in the US for historical reasons
(cf. connexionalism).
Greek-derived and Latin-derived spellings
ae and oe
Many words, especially medical words, that are written with ae/æ or oe/œ in British English are written
with just an e in American English. The sounds in question are /iː/ or /ɛ/ (or, unstressed, /i/, /ɪ/ or /ə/).
Examples (with non-American letter in bold): aeon, anaemia, anaesthesia, caecum, caesium, coeliac,
diarrhoea, encyclopaedia, faeces, foetal, gynaecology, haemoglobin, haemophilia, leukaemia,
oesophagus, oestrogen, orthopaedic,[note 1] palaeontology, paediatric, paedophile. Oenology is
acceptable in American English but is deemed a minor variant of enology, whereas although archeology
and ameba exist in American English, the British versions archaeology and amoeba are more common.
The chemical haem (named as a shortening of haemoglobin) is spelled heme in American English, to
avoid confusion with hem.
Canadian English mostly follows American English in this respect, although it is split on gynecology (e.g.
Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada vs. the Canadian Medical Association's Canadian
specialty profile of Obstetrics/gynecology). Pediatrician is preferred roughly 10 to 1 over paediatrician,
while foetal and oestrogen are similarly uncommon.
Words that can be spelled either way in American English include aesthetics and archaeology (which
usually prevail over esthetics and archeology),[12] as well as palaestra, for which the simplified form
palestra is described by Merriam-Webster as "chiefly Brit[ish]."[40]
Words that can be spelled either way in British English include encyclopaedia, homoeopathy,
chamaeleon, mediaeval (a minor variant in both AmE and BrE[41][42][43]), foetid and foetus. The
spellings foetus and foetal are Britishisms based on a mistaken etymology.[44] The etymologically correct
original spelling fetus reflects the Latin original and is the standard spelling in medical journals
worldwide;[45] the Oxford English Dictionary notes that "In Latin manuscripts both fētus and foetus are
used".[46]
The Ancient Greek diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliterated into Latin as <ae> and <oe>. The
ligatures æ and œ were introduced when the sounds became monophthongs, and later applied to words
not of Greek origin, in both Latin (for example, cœli) and French (for example, œuvre). In English, which
has adopted words from all three languages, it is now usual to replace Æ/æ with Ae/ae and Œ/œ with
Oe/oe. In many words, the digraph has been reduced to a lone e in all varieties of English: for example,
oeconomics, praemium, and aenigma.[47] In others, it is kept in all varieties: for example, phoenix, and
usually subpoena,[48] but Phenix in Virginia. This is especially true of names: Caesar, Oedipus, Phoebe,
etc. There is no reduction of Latin -ae plurals (e.g., larvae); nor where the digraph <ae>/<oe> does not
result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, maelstrom, toe. The British form aeroplane is an
instance (compare other aero- words such as aerosol). The now chiefly North American airplane is not a
respelling but a recoining, modelled after airship and aircraft. The word airplane dates from 1907,[49] at
which time the prefix aero- was trisyllabic, often written aëro-.
Greek-derived spellings (often through Latin and Romance)
-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)
Origin and recommendations
The -ize spelling is often incorrectly seen as an Americanism in Britain. It has been in use since the 15th
century, predating -ise by over a century.[50] -ize comes directly from Greek -ιζειν -izein and Latin -izāre,
while -ise comes via French -iser.[51][52] The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) recommends -ize and
lists the -ise form as an alternative.[52]
Publications by Oxford University Press (OUP)—such as Henry Watson Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern
English Usage, Hart's Rules,[53] and The Oxford Guide to English Usage[54]—also recommend -ize.
However, Robert Allan's Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage considers either spelling to be
acceptable anywhere but the US.[55] Also, Oxford University itself does not agree with the OUP and
advocates -ise instead of -ize in its staff style guide.[56]
Usage
American spelling avoids -ise endings in words like organize, realize and recognize.[57]
British spelling mostly uses -ise (organise, realise, recognise), though -ize is sometimes used.[57] The
ratio between -ise and -ize stood at 3:2 in the British National Corpus up to 2002.[58] The spelling -ise is
more commonly used in UK mass media and newspapers,[57] including The Times (which switched
conventions in 1992),[59] The Daily Telegraph, The Economist and the BBC. The Government of the
United Kingdom additionally uses -ise, stating "do not use Americanisms" justifying that the spelling "is
often seen as such".[60] The -ize form is known as Oxford spelling and is used in publications of the
Oxford University Press, most notably the Oxford English Dictionary, and of other academic
publishers[61] such as Nature, the Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement. It can be
identified using the IETF language tag en-GB-oxendict (or, historically, by en-GB-oed).[62]
In Canada, the -ize ending is more common, whereas in Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand,[63] -
ise spellings strongly prevail: the -ise form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1
according to the Macquarie Dictionary.
The same applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization, or

modernisation/modernization
Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international
organizations, such as the United Nations Organizations (such as the World Health Organization and the
International Civil Aviation Organization) and the International Organization for Standardization (but
not by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). The European Union's style
guides require the usage of -ise.[64] Proofreaders at the EU's Publications Office ensure consistent
spelling in official publications such as the Official Journal (where legislation and other official
documents are published), but the -ize spelling may be found in other documents.
Exceptions
Some verbs ending in -ize or -ise do not come from Greek -ιζειν, and their endings are therefore not
interchangeable:
Some words take only the -z- form worldwide, for example capsize, seize (except in the legal
phrases to be seised of or to stand seised to), size and prize (only in the "appraise" sense). These,
however, do not contain the suffix -ize.
Others take only -s- worldwide: advertise, advise, arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise,
demise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, franchise, guise, improvise, incise, reprise,
revise, rise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise, and wise. Some of these do not contain the suffix -
ise, but some do.
One special case is the verb to prise (meaning "to force" or "to lever"), which is spelled prize in the
US[65] and prise everywhere else,[66] including Canada,[12] although in North American English it is
almost always replaced by pry, a back-formation from or alteration of prise.[12] A topsail schooner
built in Australia in 1829 was called Enterprize, whereas there have been US ships and spacecraft
named "Enterprise".
Some words spelled with -ize in American English are not used in British English, etc., e.g., the verb
burglarize, regularly formed on the noun burglar, where the equivalent in British, and other versions of
English, is the back-formation burgle and not burglarise.[67]
-yse, -yze
The ending -yse is British and -yze is American. Thus, in British English analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse
and paralyse, but in American English analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze and paralyze.
Analyse was the more common spelling in 17th- and 18th-century English. Some dictionaries of the time
however preferred analyze, such as John Kersey's of 1702, Nathan Bailey's of 1721 and Samuel Johnson's
of 1755. In Canada, -yze is preferred, but -yse is also very common. In South Africa, Australia and New
Zealand, -yse is the prevailing form.
English verbs ending in either -lyse or -lyze are not similar to the original Greek verb, which is λύω lýo
("I release"). Instead, they come from the noun form λύσις lysis, with the -ise or -ize suffix. For example,
analyse comes from French analyser, formed by haplology from the French analysiser,[68] which would
be spelled analysise or analysize in English.
Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford states: "In verbs such as
analyse, catalyse, paralyse, -lysis part of the Greek stem (corresponding to the element -lusis) and not a
suffix like -ize. The spelling -yze is therefore etymologically incorrect, and must not be used, unless
American printing style is being followed."[53]
-ogue, -og
British and other Commonwealth English use the ending -logue while American English commonly uses
the ending -log for words like analog(ue), catalog(ue), dialog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), etc. The -
gue spelling, as in catalogue, is used in the US, but catalog is more common. Additionally, in American
English, dialogue is an extremely common spelling compared to dialog, although both are treated as
acceptable ways to spell the word[69] (thus the inflected forms, cataloged and cataloging vs. catalogued
and cataloguing). Words like demagogue, pedagogue, and synagogue are seldom used without -ue even
in American English.
In Australia, analog is standard for the adjective, but both analogue and analog are current for the
noun; in all other cases the -gue endings strongly prevail,[12] for example monologue, except for such
expressions as dialog box in computing,[70] which are also used in the UK. In Australia, analog is used in
its technical and electronic sense, as in analog electronics.[8] In Canada and New Zealand, analogue is
used, but analog has some currency as a technical term[12] (e.g., in electronics, as in "analog electronics"
as opposed to "digital electronics" and some video-game consoles might have an analog stick). The -ue is
absent worldwide in related words like analogy, analogous, and analogist.
Both British and American English use the spelling -gue with a silent -ue for certain words that are not
part of the -ogue set, such as tongue (cf. tong), plague, vague, and league. In addition, when the -ue is
not silent, as in the words argue, ague and segue, all varieties of English use -gue.
Commonwealth usage
In Canada, e is usually preferred over oe and often over ae, but oe and ae are sometimes found in
academic and scientific writing as well as government publications (for example the fee schedule of the
Ontario Health Insurance Plan). In Australia, encyclopedia and medieval are spelled with e rather than
ae, as with American usage, and the Macquarie Dictionary also notes a growing tendency towards
replacing ae and oe with e worldwide.[8] Elsewhere, the British usage prevails, but the spellings with just
e are increasingly used.[12] Manoeuvre is the only spelling in Australia, and the most common one in
Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also sometimes found.[12]
Doubled consonants
The plural of the noun bus is usually buses, with busses a minor American variant.[71] Conversely,
inflections of the verb bus usually double the s in British (busses, bussed, bussing) but not American
(buses, bused, busing).[71]
Doubled in British English
The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled in both American and British spelling
when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel, for example strip/stripped, which prevents confusion with
stripe/striped and shows the difference in pronunciation (see digraph). Generally, this happens only
when the word's final syllable is stressed and when it also ends with a lone vowel followed by a lone
consonant. In British English, however, a final -l is often doubled even when the final syllable is
unstressed.[12] This exception is no longer usual in American English, seemingly because of Noah
Webster.[72] The -ll- spellings are nevertheless still deemed acceptable variants by both Merriam-
Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.
The British English doubling is used for all inflections (-ed, -ing, -er, -est) and for the noun suffixes -er
and -or. Therefore, British English usage is cancelled, counsellor, cruellest, labelled, modelling,
quarrelled, signalling, traveller, and travelling. Americans typically use canceled, counselor, cruelest,
labeled, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveler, and traveling. However, for certain words such as
cancelled, the -ll- spelling is very common in American English as well.
The word parallel keeps a single -l- in British English, as in American English (paralleling,
unparalleled), to avoid the unappealing cluster -llell-.
Words with two vowels before a final l are also spelled with -ll- in British English before a suffix
when the first vowel either acts as a consonant (equalling and initialled; in the United States,
equaling or initialed), or belongs to a separate syllable (British fu•el•ling and di•alled; American
fu•el•ing and di•aled).
British woollen is a further exception due to the double vowel (American: woolen). Also, wooly
is accepted in American English, though woolly prevails in both systems.[12]
The verb surveil, a back-formation from surveillance, always makes surveilling, surveilled.[73]
Endings -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist, -ish usually do not double the l in British English; for example, normalise,
dualism, novelist, and devilish.
Exceptions: tranquillise; duellist, medallist, panellist, and sometimes triallist in British English.
For -ous, British English has a single l in scandalous and perilous, but the "ll" in marvellous and
libellous.
For -ee, British English has libellee.
For -age, British English has pupillage but vassalage.
American English sometimes has an unstressed -ll-, as in the UK, in some words where the root has
-l. These are cases where the change happens in the source language, which was often Latin.
(Examples: bimetallism, cancellation, chancellor, crystallize, excellent, tonsillitis, and raillery.)
All forms of English have compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling (notice the stress difference);
revealing, fooling (note the double vowel before the l); and hurling (consonant before the l).
Canadian and Australian English mostly follow British usage.[12]
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 United States, the spellings kidnaped and worshiped,
which were introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s,[74] are common, but kidnapped and
worshipped prevail.[75][76] Kidnapped and worshipped are the only standard British spellings. However,
focused is the predominant spelling in both British and American English, focussed being just a minor
variant in British English.[77]
Miscellaneous:
British calliper or caliper; American caliper.

British jewellery; American jewelry. The word originates from the Old French word jouel[78] (whose
contemporary French equivalent is joyau, with the same meaning). The standard pronunciation
/ˈdʒuːəlri/[79] does not reflect this difference, but the non-standard pronunciation /ˈdʒuːləri/ (which
exists in New Zealand and Britain, hence the Cockney rhyming slang word tomfoolery /tɒmˈfuːləri/)
does. According to Fowler, jewelry used to be the "rhetorical and poetic" spelling in the UK, and was
still used by The Times into the mid-20th century. Canada has both, but jewellery is more often used.
Likewise, the Commonwealth (including Canada) has jeweller and the US has jeweler for a
jewel(le)ry seller.
Doubled in American English
Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans a double l. In American
usage, the spelling of words is usually not changed when they form the main part (not prefix or suffix) of
other words, especially in newly formed words and in words whose main part is in common use. Words
with this spelling difference include willful, skillful, thralldom, appall, fulfill, fulfillment, enrollment,
installment. These words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, fill,
roll, stall. Cases where a single l nevertheless occurs in both American and British English include
null→annul, annulment; till→until (although some prefer til to reflect the single l in until, sometimes
using an apostrophe ('til); this should be considered a hypercorrection as till predates the use of until);
and others where the connection is not clear or the monosyllabic cognate is not in common use in
American English (e.g., null is used mainly as a technical term in law, mathematics, and computer
science).
In the UK, a single l is generally preferred in American forms distill, instill, enroll, and enthrallment, and
enthrall, although ll was formerly used;[80] these are always spelled with ll in American usage. The
former British spellings instal, fulness, and dulness are now quite rare.[12] The Scottish tolbooth is
cognate with tollbooth, but it has a distinct meaning.
In both American and British usages, words normally spelled -ll usually drop the second l when used as
prefixes or suffixes, for example full→useful, handful; all→almighty, altogether; well→welfare,
welcome; chill→chilblain.
Both the British fulfil and the American fulfill never use -ll- in the middle (i.e., *fullfill and *fullfil are
incorrect).[81][82]
Johnson wavered on this issue. His dictionary of 1755 lemmatizes distil and instill, downhil and
uphill.[12]
Dropped "e"
British English sometimes keeps a silent "e" when adding suffixes where American English does not.
Generally speaking, British English drops it in only some cases in which it is needed to show
pronunciation whereas American English only uses it where needed.
British prefers ageing,[12] American usually aging (compare raging, ageism). For the noun or verb
"route", British English often uses routeing,[83] but in America routing is used. The military term rout
forms routing everywhere. However, all of these words form "router", whether used in the context of
carpentry, data communications, or the military. (e.g., "Attacus was the router of the Huns at ....")
Both forms of English keep the silent "e" in the words dyeing, singeing, and swingeing[84] (in the sense
of dye, singe, and swinge), to distinguish from dying, singing, swinging (in the sense of die, sing, and
swing). In contrast, the verb bathe and the British verb bath both form bathing. Both forms of English
vary for tinge and twinge; both prefer cringing, hinging, lunging, syringing.
Before -able, British English prefers likeable, liveable, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable,[85]
where American practice prefers to drop the "-e"; but both British and American English prefer
breathable, curable, datable, lovable, movable, notable, provable, quotable, scalable, solvable,
usable,[85] and those where the root is polysyllabic, like believable or decidable. Both systems keep
the silent "e" when it is needed to preserve a soft "c", "ch", or "g", such as in traceable, cacheable,
changeable; both usually keep the "e" after "-dge", as in knowledgeable, unbridgeable, and
unabridgeable ("These rights are unabridgeable").
Both abridgment and the more regular abridgement are current in the US, only the latter in the
UK.[12] Likewise for the word lodg(e)ment. Both judgment and judgement are in use interchangeably
everywhere, although the former prevails in the US and the latter prevails in the UK[12] except in the
practice of law, where judgment is standard. This also holds for abridgment and acknowledgment.
Both systems prefer fledgling to fledgeling, but ridgeling to ridgling. Both acknowledgment,
acknowledgement, abridgment and abridgement are used in Australia; the shorter forms are
endorsed by the Australian Capital Territory Government.[8][86] Apart from when the "e" is dropped
and in the word gaol and some pronunciations of margarine, "g" can only be soft when followed by
an "e", "i", or "y".
The word "blue" always drops the "e" when forming "bluish" or "bluing".
Hard and soft "c"

A "c" is generally soft when followed by an "e", "i", or "y". One word with a pronunciation that is an
exception in British English, "sceptic", is spelled "skeptic" in American English. See Miscellaneous
spelling differences below.
Different spellings for different meanings

dependant or dependent (noun): British dictionaries distinguish between dependent (adjective) and
dependant (noun). In the US, dependent is usual for both noun and adjective, regardless of
dependant also being an acceptable variant for the noun form in the US.[87]
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), by choice of the group
that coined and trademarked the name Compact Disc, while disk is used for products using magnetic
storage (e.g., hard disks or floppy disks, also known as diskettes).[88]
enquiry or inquiry:[12] According to Fowler, inquiry should be used in relation to a formal inquest,
and enquiry to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction;
the OED, in their entry dating from 1900, lists inquiry and enquiry as equal alternatives, in that order
(with the addition of "public inquiry" in a 1993 addition). Some British dictionaries, such as Chambers
21st Century Dictionary,[89] present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general
sense, but prefer inquiry for the "formal inquest" sense. In the US, only inquiry is commonly used; the
title of the National Enquirer, as a proper name, is an exception. In Australia, inquiry and enquiry are
often interchangeable.[90] Both are current in Canada, where enquiry is often associated with
scholarly or intellectual research.
ensure or insure: In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the word ensure (to make sure, to make
certain) has a distinct meaning from the word insure (often followed by against – to guarantee or
protect against, typically by means of an "insurance policy"). The distinction is only about a century
old.[12] In American usage, insure may also be used in the former sense, but ensure may not be used
in the latter sense. According to Merriam-Webster's usage notes, ensure and insure "are
interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or [making] inevitable of an
outcome, but ensure may imply a virtual guarantee 'the government has ensured the safety of the
refugees', while insure sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand 'careful
planning should insure the success of the party'."[91]
matt or matte: In the UK, matt refers to a non-glossy surface, and matte to the motion-picture
technique; in the US, matte covers both.[12]
programme or program: The British programme is from post-classical Latin programma and French
programme. Program first appeared in Scotland in 1633 (earlier than programme in England in 1671)
and is the only spelling found in the US. The OED entry, updated in 2007, says that program
conforms to the usual representation of Greek as in anagram, diagram, telegram etc. In British
English, program is the common spelling for computer programs, but for other meanings programme
is used. New Zealand also follows this pattern. In Australia, program has been endorsed by
government writing standards for all meanings since the 1960s,[12] and is listed as the official spelling
in the Macquarie Dictionary;[8] 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.[12]
tonne or ton: In the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, the spelling tonne refers to the metric
unit (1,000 kilograms), which is the nomenclature used in SI units, whereas in the US the same unit
is called a metric ton. The unqualified ton usually refers to the long ton (2,240 pounds or 1,016
kilograms) in the UK and to the short ton (2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms) 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).
meter/metre: 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".[92]
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 differences: Verb morphology).
UK US Notes
aeroplane airplane Aeroplane, originally a French loanword with a different meaning, is the older spelling.[93] The
oldest recorded uses of the spelling airplane are British.[93] According to the OED,[94] "
[a]irplane became the standard American term (replacing aeroplane) after this was adopted
by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1916. Although A. Lloyd James
recommended its adoption by the BBC in 1928, it has until recently been no more than an
occasional form in British English." In the British National Corpus,[95] aeroplane outnumbers
airplane by more than 7:1 in the UK. The case is similar for the British aerodrome[96] and
American airdrome;[97]Aerodrome is used merely as a technical term in Australia, Canada
and New Zealand. The prefixes aero- and air- both mean air, with the first coming from the
Ancient Greek word ἀήρ (āēr). Thus, the prefix appears in aeronautics, aerostatics,
aerodynamics, aeronautical engineering and so on, while the second occurs invariably in
aircraft, airport, airliner, airmail etc. In Canada, airplane is more common than aeroplane,
although aeroplane is used as part of the regulatory term "ultra-light aeroplane".[98]
ampoule ampule The -poule spelling and /-puːl/ pronunciation, which reflect the word's French origin, are
common in America,[99] whereas -pule and /-pjuːl/ are rare in Britain.[100] Another US variant
is ampul.
aluminium aluminum The spelling aluminium is the international standard in the sciences according to the IUPAC
recommendations. Humphry Davy, the element's discoverer, first proposed the name
alumium, and then later aluminum. The name aluminium was finally adopted to conform with
the -ium ending of some metallic elements.[101] Canada uses aluminum and Australia and
New Zealand aluminium, according to their respective dictionaries[12] and the Canadian trade
association is called the 'Aluminium Association of Canada'[102]
arse ass In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"/"idiot"); unrelated sense "donkey" is ass in both.
Arse is very rarely used in the US, though often understood, whereas both are used in British
English (with arse being considered vulgar). Arse is also used in Newfoundland.
behove behoove The 19th century had the spelling behove pronounced to rhyme with move.[103] Subsequently,
a pronunciation spelling with doubled oo was adopted in America, while in Britain a spelling
pronunciation rhyming with rove was adopted.
bogeyman boogeyman It is pronounced /ˈboʊɡimæn/ in the UK, so that the American form, boogeyman /ˈbʊɡimæn/, is
or reminiscent of musical "boogie" to the British ear. Boogerman /ˈbʊɡərmæn/ is common in the
boogerman Southern US and gives an association with the slang term booger for nasal mucus while the
mainstream American spelling of boogeyman does not, but aligns more closely with the
British meaning where a bogey is also nasal mucus.
brent brant For the species of goose.
carburettor carburetor The word carburetor comes from the French carbure meaning "carbide".[104][105] In the UK,
the word is spelled carburettor & pronounced /ˌkɑːrbjʊˈrɛtər/ or /ˈkɑːrbərɛtər/. In the US, the
word is usually spelled carburetor & pronounced /ˈkɑːrbəreɪtər/.
charivari shivaree, In America, where both terms are mainly regional,[106] charivari is usually pronounced as
charivari shivaree, which is also found in Canada and Cornwall,[107] and is a corruption of the French
word.
eyrie aerie This noun (not to be confused with the adjective eerie) rhymes with weary and hairy
respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in America.
fillet fillet, filet Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way (approximately) in the US; Canada follows British
pronunciation and distinguishes between fillet, especially as concerns fish, and filet, as
concerns certain cuts of beef. McDonald's in the UK and Australia use the US spelling "filet"
for their Filet-O-Fish.
fount font Fount was the standard British spelling for a metal type font (especially in the sense of one
consignment of metal type in one style and size, e.g. "the printing company had a fount of that
typeface"); lasted until the end of the metal type era and occasionally still seen.[108] From
French fondre, "to cast".
UK US Notes
furore furor Furore is a late 18th-century Italian loan-word that replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the
following century,[109] and is usually pronounced with a voiced final e. The Canadian usage is
the same as the American, and Australia has both.[12]
grotty grody Clippings of grotesque; both are slang terms from the 1960s.[110]
haulier hauler Haulage contractor; haulier is the older spelling.[12]
jemmy jimmy In the sense "crowbar".
moustache mustache In America, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and The American
moustache Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the British spelling is an also-ran, yet the
pronunciation with second-syllable stress is a common variant. In Britain the second syllable
is usually stressed.
mum(my) mom(my) Mother. Mom is sporadically regionally found in the UK (e.g., in West Midlands English).
Some British and Irish dialects have mam,[111] and this is often used in Northern English,
Hiberno-English, and Welsh English. Scottish English may also use mam, ma, or maw. In the
American region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British
pronunciation of mum is often retained, while it is still spelled mom. In Canada, there are both
mom and mum; Canadians often say mum and write mom.[112] In Australia and New Zealand,
mum is used. In the sense of a preserved corpse, mummy is always used.
naivety, naïveté The American spelling is from French, and American speakers generally approximate the
naïveté French pronunciation as /nɑːˈiːv(ə)teɪ/, whereas the British spelling conforms to English norms,
as also the pronunciation /nɑːˈiːv(ə)ti/[113][114]. In the UK, naïveté is a minor variant, used about
20% of the time in the British National Corpus; in America, naivete and naiveté are marginal
variants, and naivety is almost unattested.[12][115]
orientated oriented In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, it is common to use orientated (as in family-
orientated), whereas in the US, oriented is used exclusively (family-oriented). Both words
have the same origins, coming from "orient" or its offshoot "orientation".[116]
pyjamas pajamas The 'y' represents the pronunciation of the original Urdu "pāy-jāma", and in the 18th century
spellings such as "paijamahs" and "peijammahs" appeared: this is reflected in the
pronunciation /paɪˈdʒɑːməz/ (with the first syllable rhyming with "pie") offered as an alternative
in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Two spellings are also known from the
18th century, but 'pajama' became more or less confined to the US.[117] Canada follows both
British and American usage, with both forms commonplace.
pernickety persnickety Persnickety is a late 19th-century American alteration of the Scots word pernickety.[118]
plonk plunk As verb meaning "sit/set down carelessly".[119]
potter putter As verb meaning "perform minor agreeable tasks".[120]
quin quint Abbreviations of quintuplet.
scallywag scalawag In the United States (where the word originated, as scalawag),[12] scallywag is not
scallywag unknown.[121]
sledge sled In American usage a sled is smaller and lighter than a sledge and is used only over ice or
snow, especially for play by young people, whereas a sledge is used for hauling loads over
ice, snow, grass, or rough terrain.[122]
speciality specialty In British English the standard usage is speciality, but specialty occurs in the field of
medicine[123] and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, specialty prevails.
In Australia and New Zealand, both are current.[12]
titbit tidbit According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest form was "tyd bit", and the alteration to
"titbit" was probably under the influence of the obsolete word "tit", meaning a small horse or
girl.
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.[124] However, such spellings are also
found in American English.
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, Australian, and
New Zealand English. "Dove" is usually used in its place in American English. Both terms are
understood in Canada, and may be found either in minority use or in regional dialect in America.
The past participle and past tense of the verb "to get" is "got" in British and New Zealand English but
"gotten" in American and Canadian, and occasionally in Australian English, though "got" is widely
used as a past tense. Both terms are understood, and may be found either in minority use or in
regional dialect. The main exception is in the phrase "ill-gotten", which is widely used in British,
Australian and New Zealand English. This does not affect "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.
UK US Remarks
annexe annex To annex is the verb in both British and American usage. However, the noun—an
annex(e) of a building—is spelled with an -e at the end in the UK and Australia, but
not in the US.
apophthegm[125] apothegm[126] Johnson favoured apophthegm (the ph is silent) which matches Ancient Greek:
ἁπόφθεγμα, romanized: apophthegma.[127] Webster favoured apothegm, which
matches Latin: apothegma, and was also more common in England until
Johnson.[127] There is an unrelated word spelled apothem in all regions.[127]
artefact, artifact In British English, artefact is the main spelling and artifact a minor variant.[128] In
artifact American English, artifact is the usual spelling. Canadians prefer artifact and
Australians artefact, according to their respective dictionaries.[12] Artefact reflects
Arte-fact(um), the Latin source.[129]
axe ax, Both the noun and verb. The word comes from Old English æx. In the US, both
axe spellings are acceptable and commonly used. The Oxford English Dictionary 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".[130]
camomile, chamomile, The word derives, via French and Latin, from Greek χαμαίμηλον ("earth apple").
chamomile camomile 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.[131] 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.
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.[129]
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, use cheque, but this is merely a
trademarking affectation.
chequer checker As in chequerboard/checkerboard, chequered/checkered flag etc. In Canada as in
the US.[12]
chilli chili, The original Mexican Spanish word is chile, itself derived from the Classical Nahuatl
chile chilli.[12][132] In Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, chile and chilli are given as
also variants.
cipher, cypher cipher
coulter, colter
colter
cosy cozy In all senses (adjective, noun, verb).
dyke dike 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.
doughnut doughnut, In the US, both are used, with donut indicated as a less common variant of
donut doughnut.[133]
UK US Remarks
draught draft British English usually uses draft for all senses as the verb;[134] for a preliminary
draft 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;[135] and for the game draughts, 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.[12] The pronunciation is always the same for all
meanings within a dialect (RP /drɑːft/, General American /dræft/).
The spelling draught reflects the older pronunciation, /drɑːxt/. Draft

emerged in the 16th century to reflect the change in
pronunciation.[136][137]
gauge gauge, Both spellings have existed since Middle English.[139]

gage[138]
gauntlet gauntlet, When meaning "ordeal", in the phrase running the ga(u)ntlet, some American style
gantlet guides prefer gantlet.[140] This spelling is unused in Britain[141] and less usual in
America than gauntlet. The word is an alteration of earlier gantlope by folk
etymology with gauntlet ("armoured glove"), always spelled thus.
glycerine glycerin, Scientists use the term glycerol, but both spellings are used sporadically in the US.
glycerine
grey gray, grey Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century,[12] 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".[142] 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.
grill, grill, In the US, "grille" refers to that of an automobile, whereas "grill" refers to a device
grille grille used for heating food. However, it is not uncommon to see both spellings used in
the automotive sense,[143] as well as in Australia[144] and New Zealand.[145] Grill is
more common overall in both BrE and AmE.[146]
hearken hearken, The word comes from hark. The spelling hearken was probably influenced by
harken hear.[147] Both spellings are found everywhere.
idyll idyl, idyll Idyl was 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 now generally used in both the UK and US.
jail, jail In the UK, gaol and gaoler are used sometimes, apart from literary usage, chiefly to
gaol 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 /dʒeɪl/. The survival of
the gaol spelling in British English is "due to statutory and official tradition".[148]
UK US Remarks
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.[149]
(kilo)gram, (kilo)gram The dated spelling (kilo)gramme is used sometimes in the UK[150] but never in the
(kilo)gramme US. (Kilo)gram is the only spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and
Measures.
liquorice licorice The American spelling is nearer the Old French source licorece, which is ultimately
from Greek glykyrrhiza.[151] The British spelling was influenced by the unrelated
word liquor.[152] 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).[12]
midriff midriff,
midrif[153][154]
mollusc mollusk, The related adjective may be spelled molluscan or molluskan.
mollusc
mould mold In all senses of the word. Both spellings have been used since the 16th century.[155]
In Canada, both spellings are used.[12] In New Zealand, "mold" refers to a form for
casting a shape while "mould" refers to the fungus.
moult molt
neurone, neuron neuron
omelette omelet, The omelet spelling is the older of the two, in spite of the etymology (French
omelette omelette).[12] Omelette prevails in Canada and Australia.
plough plow Both spellings have existed since Middle English. In England, plough became the
main spelling in the 18th century.[156] 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,[12]
although snowplow is more common. In the US, "plough" sometimes describes a
horsedrawn kind while "plow" refers to a gasoline (petrol) powered kind.
primaeval, primeval Primeval is also common in the UK but etymologically 'ae' is nearer the Latin source
primeval primus first + aevum age.[157]
programme, program While "program" is used in British English in the case of computer programs,
program "programme" is the spelling most commonly used for all other meanings. However,
in American English, "program" is the preferred form.
rack and ruin wrack and Several words like "rack" and "wrack" have been conflated, with both spellings thus
ruin accepted as variants for senses connected to torture (orig. rack) and ruin (orig.
wrack, cf. wreck)[158] In "(w)rack and ruin", the W-less variant is now prevalent in the
UK but not the US.[159] The term, however, is rare in the US.
sceptic, skeptic The American spelling, akin to Greek, is the earliest known spelling in English.[160] It
skeptic was preferred by Fowler, and is used by many Canadians, where it is the earlier
form.[12] 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;[161] 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.
UK US Remarks
slew, slue slue, slew Meaning "to turn sharply; a sharp turn", the preferred spelling differs. Meaning "a
great number" is usually slew in all regions.[162]
smoulder smolder Both spellings go back to the 16th century, and have existed since Middle
English.[129][163]
storey, 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.[12] Story is the earlier
spelling. The Oxford English Dictionary states that this word is "probably the same
word as story [in its meaning of "narrative"] though the development of sense is
obscure."[164] One of the first uses of the (now British) spelling "storey" was by
Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 (Uncle Tom's Cabin xxxii).
sulphate, sulfate, The spelling sulfate is the more common variant in British English in scientific and
sulfate[165] sulphate technical usage; see the entry on sulfur and the decisions of the International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)[166] and the UK's Royal Society of
Chemistry (RSC).[167]
sulphur, sulfur sulfur, Sulfur is the preferred spelling by the International Union of Pure and Applied
sulphur Chemistry (IUPAC) since 1971 or 1990[166] and by the UK's Royal Society of
Chemistry (RSC) since 1992.[168] Sulfur is used by scientists in all countries and
has been actively taught in chemistry in British schools since December 2000,[169]
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, 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.[170] 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."[171] 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.[172][173][174][175] The variation between f and ph
spellings is also found in the word's ultimate source: Latin sulfur, sulphur,[176] but
this was due to Hellenization of the original Latin word sulpur to sulphur 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 sulfur which
appears in Latin toward the end of the Classical period. (The true Greek word for
sulfur, θεῖον, is the source of the international chemical prefix thio-.) In 12th-century
Anglo-French, the word became sulfre. In the 14th century, the erroneously
Hellenized Latin -ph- was restored in Middle English sulphre. By the 15th century,
both full Latin spelling variants sulfur and sulphur became common in English.
through through, "Thru" is typically used in the US as shorthand. It may be acceptable in informal
thru[177] writing, but for formal documents, "thru" would generally be viewed as "not correct
English" and "not a real word". Because "thru" is much shorter than "through", it may
also carry a negative connotation, as though the writer of "thru" were "cutting
corners" and was "too lazy" to fully spell out "through". "Thru" is commonly used on
official road signs in the US, as in "no thru traffic", to save space.
In the COBOL programming language, THRU is accepted as an

abbreviation of the keyword THROUGH. Since programmers like to
keep their code brief, THRU is generally the preferred form of this
keyword.
UK US Remarks
tyre tire 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,[12] though many continued to use tire for the iron variety. The Times
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.
vice vise, 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.[12] Regarding the
"sin" and "deputy" senses 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.
whisky (Scotland), whiskey, In the United States, the whiskey spelling is dominant; whisky is encountered less
whiskey (Ireland) whisky frequently, but is used on the labels of some major brands (e.g., Early Times,
George Dickel, Maker's Mark, and Old Forester) and is used in the relevant US
federal regulations.[178] 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" or "Irish
whisky". Both ultimately derive from "uisce beatha" (Irish) and "uisge beatha"
(Scottish) meaning 'water of life'.
yoghurt, yogurt, Yoghurt is an also-ran in the US, as is yoghourt in the UK. Although the Oxford
yogurt, yoghurt Dictionaries have always preferred yogurt, in current British usage yoghurt seems to
yoghourt be prevalent. In Canada, yogurt prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford preferring
yogourt, which has the advantage of satisfying bilingual (English and French)
packaging requirements.[6][179] Australian usage tends to follow the UK. Whatever
the spelling is, the word has different pronunciations: /ˈjɒɡərt/ in the UK, /ˈjoʊɡərt/ in
New Zealand, America, Ireland, and Australia. The word comes from the Turkish
language word yoğurt.[180] The voiced velar fricative represented by ğ in the modern
Turkish (Latinic) alphabet was traditionally written gh in Latin script of the Ottoman
Turkish (Arabic) alphabet used before 1928.
Compounds and hyphens

British English often prefers hyphenated compounds, such as anti-smoking, whereas American English
discourages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no compelling reason, so antismoking is
much more common. Many dictionaries do not point out such differences. Canadian and Australian
usage is mixed, although Commonwealth writers generally hyphenate compounds of the form noun plus
phrase (such as editor-in-chief).[12] Commander-in-chief prevails in all forms of English.
Compound verbs in British English are hyphenated more often than in American English.[181]
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.[12] 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]". In Hong Kong English, any more is always two words.[182]
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".[183] In British usage today, however, forever prevails in the "for eternity" sense as
well,[184] in spite of several style guides maintaining the distinction.[185] 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".[186] 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 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 sometimes in the UK, Australia, New
Zealand, other Commonwealth countries, and Ireland) percent is also found, mostly sourced from
American press agencies.
Acronyms and abbreviations

Acronyms pronounced as words are often written in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as
upper case by Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef / UNICEF.[187] This does not apply to
abbreviations that are pronounced as individual letters (referred to by some as "initialisms"), 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).[188]
Contractions where the final letter is present are often written in British English without full
stops/periods (Mr, Mrs, Dr, St, Ave). Abbreviations 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);[189][190] and
ante meridiem and post meridiem (10 P.M. or 10 PM vs 10 p.m. or 10 pm).[191][192][193] Both AM/PM and
a.m./p.m. are acceptable in American English, but U.S. style guides overwhelmingly prefer
a.m./p.m.[194]
Punctuation
The use of quotation marks, 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.[195]
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 English has moved away from this style while
American English has kept it. 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.[196]
See also
Australian English Hong Kong English New Zealand English
Canadian English Hiberno-English Philippine English
English language in England Indian English Scottish English
English in the Malaysian English Singaporean English
Commonwealth of Nations Manx English South African English
English orthography
Notes
1. The majority of American college, university, and residency programs, and even the American
Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, still use the spelling with the digraph ae, though hospitals usually
use the shortened form.
References
Citations
1. David Micklethwait (1 January 2005). Noah Webster and the American Dictionary (https://books.goog
le.com/books?id=uIRCsrMwhroC&pg=PA137). McFarland. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-7864-2157-2.
2. Scragg, Donald (1974). A history of English spelling. Manchester, England: Manchester University
Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-06-496138-7. "Johnson's dictionary became the accepted standard for
private spelling ... of a literate Englishman ... during the nineteenth century ... Webster had more
success in influencing the development of American usage than Johnson had with British usage."
3. Algeo, John, "The Effects of the Revolution on Language" in A Companion to the American
Revolution, John Wiley & Sons: 2008, p. 599.
4. -or (http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=-or&allowed_in_frame=0). Online Etymology Dictionary.
5. Venezky, Richard L. (1999). The American way of spelling : the structure and origins of American
English orthography. Guilford Press. p. 26. ISBN 1-57230-469-3. OCLC 469790290 (https://www.worl
dcat.org/oclc/469790290).
6. Clark, 2009.
7. Chambers, 1998.
8. The Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 2005.
9. Webster's Third, p. 24a.
10. Oxford English Dictionary, colour, color.
11. Onions, CT, ed. (1987) [1933]. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Third Edition (1933) with
corrections (1975) ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 370. ISBN 0-19-861126-9.
12. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
13. Johnson 1755—preface
14. Mencken, H L (1919). The American Language (http://www.bartleby.com/185/32.html). New York:
Knopf. ISBN 0-394-40076-3.
15. Staff. "The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674–1913" (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/). Humanities
Research Institute, University of Sheffield. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080723112732/ht
tp://www.oldbaileyonline.org./) from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
16. Oxford English Dictionary, honour, honor.
17. Baldrige, Letitia (1990). Letitia Baldrige's Complete Guide to the New Manners for the '90s: A
Complete Guide to Etiquette. Rawson. p. 214. ISBN 0-89256-320-6.
18. "rigor - definition of rigor in English - Oxford Dictionaries" (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definitio
n/english/rigor).
19. MacPherson, William (31 March 1990). "Practical concerns spelled the end for -our". Ottawa Citizen.
p. B3.
20. "Australian Labor: History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110617043320/http://www.alp.org.au/austr
alian-labor/labor-history/). ALP.org.au. Archived from the original (http://www.alp.org.au/australian-lab
or/labor-history/) on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
21. Venezky, Richard L. (2001). "-re versus -er". In Algeo, John (ed.). The Cambridge History of the
English Language. VI: English in North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
p. 353. ISBN 0-521-26479-0.
22. Howard, Philip (1984). The State of the Language—English Observed. London: Hamish Hamilton.
p. 148. ISBN 0-241-11346-6.
23. (Oxford English Dictionary: Second edition).
24. From the OED cites, Chaucer used both forms, but the last usages of the "re" form were in the early
18th century. The Oxford English Dictionary: 1989 edition.
25. Except in a 1579 usage (Oxford English Dictionary: 1989 edition).
26. 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)
27. Gove, Philip, ed. (1989). "-er/-re". Webster's third new international dictionary of the English
language. 2 (3 ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam Webster. pp. 24a. ISBN 978-0-87779-302-1.
28. Robin Pogrebin (3 September 2003). "Proposing an American Theater Downtown" (https://query.nyti
mes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EED9173BF93AA3575AC0A9659C8B63). The New York Times
(Arts section). The New York Times Company. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
29. "The American National Theatre (ANT)" (http://www.americannationaltheatre.org/). ANT. 2008–2009.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080907010602/http://www.americannationaltheatre.org/)
from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
30. "The Kennedy Center" (http://www.kennedy-center.org/). John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080923075951/http://www.kennedy-center.org/) from
the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
31. "Cinemark Theatres" (http://www.centurytheaters.com/). Centurytheaters.com. Retrieved 7 February
2010.
32. https://theatre.wisc.edu/
33. "accoutre" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=accouter).
Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
34. accouter (http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/A0044600.html)
35. Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers of Australian Government Publications, Third Edition,
Revised by John Pitson, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1978, page 10, "In
general, follow the spellings given in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
36. 1989 Oxford English Dictionary:connexion, connection.
37. "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:complection" (http://www.bartleby.com/c
gi-bin/texis/webinator/sitesearch?FILTER=col61&query=complection&x=0&y=0). New York:
Houghton Mifflin. 2000. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
38. "complected" (https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersd00merr). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of
English usage. Springfield, Mass: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1994. p. 271 (https://archive.org/details/mer
riamwebstersd00merr/page/271). ISBN 0-87779-132-5. "not an error...simply an Americanism"
39. "complect, v.". Oxford English Dictionary.
40. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, copyright 1993 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
41. "Definition of MEDIEVAL" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval).
42. Company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. "The American Heritage Dictionary entry: medieval"
(https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=medieval&submit.x=35&submit.y=30).
43. "medieval - definition of medieval in English - Oxford Dictionaries" (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
definition/medieval).
44. Aronson, Jeff (26 July 1997). "When I use a word...:Oe no!" (https://web.archive.org/web/200504201
82905/http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7102/0/h). British Medical Journal. 315 (7102).
doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7102.0h (https://doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.315.7102.0h). Archived from the
original (http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7102/0/h) on 20 April 2005.
45. New Oxford Dictionary of English.
46. fetus, n.". OED Online. March 2017. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/72389?
redirectedFrom=foetus (accessed 10 April 2017).
47. Webster's Third, p. 23a.
48. Wilson, Kenneth G. (1993). "subpoena, subpena (n., v.)" (http://www.bartleby.com/68/6/5806.html).
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English
(https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780231069892). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-
231-06989-8. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
49. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, airplane.
50. "-Ize or -ise?" (https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/03/28/ize-or-ise/). OxfordWords. Oxford
University Press. 28 March 2011. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180717013219/https://blo
g.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/03/28/ize-or-ise/) from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved
5 September 2018.
51. Rissanen, Matti (2006). Corpus-based Studies of Diachronic English (https://books.google.co.uk/boo
ks?id=wKEpVqTKOusC&pg=PA244). Peter Lang. p. 244. ISBN 978-3-03910-851-0.
52. Oxford English Dictionary "-ise1"
53. Hart, Horace. Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford (https://archi
ve.org/details/hartsrulesforcom0039oxfo) (39 ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-
19-212983-X.
54. Weiner, E.S.C.; Delahunty, Andrew (1994). The Oxford Guide to English Usage (https://archive.org/d
etails/oxfordguidetoeng00wein_682) (paperback). Oxford University Press. p. 32 (https://archive.org/
details/oxfordguidetoeng00wein_682/page/n31).
55. Allen, Robert, ed. (2008). Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-19-923258-1. "may be legitimately spelled with either -ize or -
ise throughout the English-speaking world (except in America, where -ize is always used)."
56. University of Oxford Style Guide (https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/University%20of%20Oxfor
d%20Style%20Guide%20%28updated%20Hilary%20term%202016%29.pdf) Linked 2017-10-13
57. "Are spellings like 'privatize' and 'organize' Americanisms?" (https://web.archive.org/web/2007020408
4547/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/ize?view=uk). AskOxford.com. 2006.
Archived from the original (http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/ize?view=uk)
on 4 February 2007.
58. Peters, p. 298: "[With] contemporary British writers the ise spellings outnumber those with ize in the
ratio of about 3:2" (emphasis as original)
59. Richard Dixon, "Questions answered" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110604174926/http://www.time
sonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article993612.ece), The Times, 13 January 2004.
60. "A to Z - Style Guide - Gov.uk" (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style).
gov.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2019. See "Americanisms" in section A
61. Modern Humanities Research Association (2013). MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors and
Editors (http://www.mhra.org.uk/pdf/MHRA-Style-Guide-3rd-Edn.pdf) (PDF) (3rd ed.). p. 20.
ISBN 978-1-78188-009-8.
62. IANA language subtag registry (http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-
subtag-registry), IANA, with "en-GM-oed" marked as added 2003-07-09 as grandfathered, and
deprecated effective 2015-04-17, with "en-GB-oxendict" preferred (accessed 2015-08-08).
63. Stack, Marja. "New Zealand English: -ise vs -ize endings" (http://www.clearlingo.co.nz/blog/nz-englis
h-ise-vs-ize-endings). Clearlingo Proofreading and Editing. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
64. "3.2 -is-/-iz- spelling" (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/styleguide_english_dgt_en.pdf) (PDF).
English Style Guide. A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission (8th ed.).
26 August 2016. p. 14.
65. "prize". Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. Also,
"prize". Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Ed.
66. According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Ed.: prise is a "chiefly Brit var of
PRIZE".
67. Garner, Bryan (2001). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmo
de00garn_0) (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 122 (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode
00garn_0/page/122). ISBN 978-0-19-514236-5. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
68. Oxford English Dictionary, analyse, -ze, v. [1] (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50007899?query_ty
pe=word&queryword=analyse&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=2&search_i
d=7gvQ-NMAtlc-2599&hilite=50007899).
69. Both the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and The American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language have "catalog" as the main headword and "catalogue" as an equal variant.
70. "MSDN C#.NET OpenFileDialog Class" (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.for
ms.openfiledialog.aspx). Msdn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
71. "bus" (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bus?q=bus_1). Cambridge English
Dictionary. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
72. Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, traveller, traveler.
73. "Surveil" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surveil). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved
3 January 2018.; "British & World English > surveil" (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/surve
il). OxfordDictionaries.com. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
74. Zorn, Eric (8 June 1997). "Errant Spelling: Moves for simplification turn Inglish into another langwaj"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070703161726/http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/chicago2.p
hp). Chicago Tribune. pp. Section 3A page 14. Archived from the original (http://www.spellingsociety.
org/news/media/chicago2.php) on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2007.
75. "Definition of KIDNAPPED" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kidnapped).
76. "Definition of WORSHIPPED" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worshipped).
77. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/focused
78. "Jewelry vs. Jewellery" (http://www.lazarosoho.com/Jewelry-vs-Jewellery_b_54.html). Lazaro Soho.
Retrieved 23 November 2014.
79. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, jewellery UK, American jewelry (http://dictionary.cambridg
e.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=42648&ph=on)
80. OED Second Edition
81. "fulfil" (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fulfil?showCookiePolicy=true). Collins
English Dictionary. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
82. "fulfil" (http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=fulfil). Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.).
Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership (https://www.oed.
com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
83. Peters, p. 480. Also National Routeing Guide
84. In American English, swingeing is sometimes spelled swinging see American Heritage Dictionary
entry (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/swingeing?r=66), and the reader has to discern from
the context which word and pronunciation is meant.
85. British National Corpus
86. "Spelling, Abbreviations and Symbols Guide" (http://www.pco.act.gov.au/library/Spelling.pdf) (PDF).
Retrieved 15 November 2012.
87. Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dependant). Retrieved 30
December 2007.
88. Howarth, Lynne C; others (14 June 1999). " "Executive summary" from review of "International
Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources" " (http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/
aacrer/tf-harm21.htm). American Library Association. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2007041
6004041/http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/aacrer/tf-harm21.htm) from the original on 16 April
2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
89. "Chambers | Free English Dictionary" (http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chr
ef.py/main?title=21st&query=inquiry). Chambersharrap.co.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
90. See Macquarie Dictionary (5th ed.)'s explanation under -in2. The dictionary also lists 'inquiry' as the
primary spelling, with 'enquiry' being a cross-reference to the former (denoting lower prevalence in
Australian English). The British distinction between 'inquiry' and 'enquiry' is noted.
91. Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensure). Retrieved 30
December 2007.
92. The Metric Conversion Act of 1985 gives the Secretary of Commerce of the US the responsibility of
interpreting or modifying the SI for use in the US The Secretary of Commerce delegated this
authority to the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (Turner, 2008 (h
ttp://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/upload/FRN_Vol_73_No_96_16May2008_SI_Interpretat
ion.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090326162948/http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasur
es/Metric/upload/FRN_Vol_73_No_96_16May2008_SI_Interpretation.pdf) 26 March 2009 at the
Wayback Machine). In 2008, the NIST published the US version (Taylor and Thompson, 2008a (htt
p://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf)) of the English text of the eighth edition of the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures publication Le Système International d'Unités (SI)
(BIPM, 2006 (http://www1.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8.pdf)). In the NIST publication,
the spellings "meter", "liter", and "deka" are used rather than "metre", "litre", and "deca" as in the
original BIPM English text (Taylor and Thompson, 2008a (http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.
pdf), p. iii). The Director of the NIST officially acknowledged this publication, together with Taylor and
Thompson (2008b) (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf), as the "legal interpretation" of the SI
for the United States (Turner, 2008 (http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/upload/FRN_Vol_7
3_No_96_16May2008_SI_Interpretation.pdf) ).
93. "etymonline.com" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=aeroplane&searchmode=none).
etymonline.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
94. Oxford English Dictionary, airplane, draft revision March 2008; airplane is labelled "chiefly North
American"
95. British National Corpus (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp). Retrieved 1 April 2008.
96. Merriam-Webster online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aerodrome), aerodrome.
Retrieved 1 April 2008.
97. Oxford English Dictionary, airdrome.
98. "Ultra-light Aeroplane Transition Strategy – Transport Canada" (https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/
standards/general-recavi-ultralight-ultransitionstrategy-basic-2492.htm#definition). Retrieved
13 February 2015.
99. MW (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ampoule) favours -poule and /-pjuːl/, AHD (https://a
hdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=ampule) -pule and /-puːl/
00. "Ampule" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ampule). Collins English Dictionary.

Retrieved 25 June 2019. "in BRIT, use ampoule"
01. "History & Etymology of Aluminium" (http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Al).
Elements.vanderkrogt.net. 1 October 2002. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
02. https://aluminium.ca/en/
03. Murray, James A. H. (1880). Spelling Reform (https://archive.org/stream/drjhmurrayonspel00murr#pa
ge/5/mode/1up/search/behove). Annual address of the President of the Philological Society. Bath:
Isaac Pitman. p. 5. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
04. "American Heritage Dictionary" (http://www.answers.com/carburet&r=67). Answers.com. Retrieved
8 October 2017.
05. "Online Etymology Dictionary" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=carburetor).
Etymonline.com. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
06. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
07. OED, shivaree
08. Henry Watson Fowler (2015). Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=AvmzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA326). Oxford University Press. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-19-966135-
0.
09. Oxford English Dictionary, furore.
10. Oxford English Dictionary, Grotty; Grody
11. Oxford English Dictionary, mom and mam
12. Added by Symphony on 15 October 2009 (15 October 2009). "Things I don't Understand: Part 3 –
Canada!" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091223132929/http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/symphon
y/things-i-dont-understand-part-3-canada/30-33430/). giantbomb. Archived from the original (http://w
ww.giantbomb.com/profile/symphony/things-i-dont-understand-part-3-canada/30-33430/) on 23
December 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
13. "naivety" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/naivety). Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Retrieved 26 January 2016.
14. "naivety" (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/naivety). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House.
Retrieved 26 January 2016.
15. Merriam Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary, naïveté and naivety.
16. "Grammar – Oxford Dictionaries Online" (http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgramma
r/oriented). Askoxford.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
17. OED, s.v. 'pyjamas'
18. Oxford English Dictionary, persnickety
19. "Plunk" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/plunk). Collins English Dictionary.
20. "Putter2" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/putter#h2_entry). Collins English
Dictionary.
21. In Webster's New World College Dictionary, scalawag is lemmatized without alternative, while
scallawag and scallywag are defined by cross-reference to it. All of them are marked as "originally
American".
22. See the respective definitions in the American Heritage Dictionary.
23. See, for example, the November 2006 BMA document titled Selection for Specialty Training (http://w
ww.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/PDFselectionspecialtytraining/$FILE/SelectionSpecialtyTr
aining.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20081030013727/http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Att
achmentsByTitle/PDFselectionspecialtytraining/%24FILE/SelectionSpecialtyTraining.pdf) 30 October
2008 at the Wayback Machine
24. "BBC Mundo | Questions about English" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/specials/1125_questions/pag
e6.shtml). Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
25. "Definition of apophthegm" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apophthegm).

www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
26. "apophthegm" (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/apothegm). Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved
3 October 2018.
27. Murray, James (November 1885). A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (https://archive.or
g/stream/ANewEnglishDictionaryOnHistoricalPrinciples.10VolumesWithSupplement/01.NEDHP.AB.O
xford.Murray.1888.#page/n412/mode/1up). Vol. I Pt 2: Ant–Batten. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 389
s.v. "apophthegm", 393 s.vv. "apothegm", "apothem". Retrieved 3 October 2018.
28. "artefact" (http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=artefact). Oxford English Dictionary (3rd
ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership (https://ww
w.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
29. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. March 2009.
30. Oxford English Dictionary online edition: entry "axe | ax"
31. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition, entry "camomile | chamomile"
32. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (http://www.oup.com/oald-bin/web_getald7index1a.pl?nav=on
&which_entry=006430%23x1%23x2%23chilli&selected_word=chilli&search_word=chili). Retrieved
2009-4-19.
33. Merriam-Webster Online. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/donut) . Retrieved 1 January
2008.
34. "draught" (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/draught). Concise OED. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
35. Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition, draught; draft (the latter being used in an international marine
context) .
36. Draft (http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=draft&allowed_in_frame=0). Online Etymology
Dictionary.
37. Oxford English Dictionary, draught.
38. "gage (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gage).Merriam-Webster.com
39. "Online Etymology Dictionary: gage" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gage&allowed_in_f
rame=0). Etymonline.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
40. Garner, Bryan A. (1998). A Dictionary of Modern American Usage (https://archive.org/details/dictiona
ryofmode00garn/page/313). New York: OUP. p. 313 (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode00ga
rn/page/313). ISBN 0-19-507853-5.
41. "gauntlet2" (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/gauntlet_2?view=uk). Concise OED.
42. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "grey | gray"
43. customcargrills.com. "Custom Car & Truck Grills – Billet & Mesh Grill Inserts" (http://www.customcarg
rills.com/index.asp). customcargrills.com. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
44. Williams, Brian (3 June 2011). "Kookaburra survives 700 km trip after being stuck in car's grille |
thetelegraph.com.au" (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kookaburra-survives-700km-trip-after-
being-stuck-in-cars-grille/story-e6freuy9-1226068485889). Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved
13 November 2012.
45. "Cat survives 35 km wedged in car grille – National – NZ Herald News" (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/n
z/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10812156). Nzherald.co.nz. 11 June 2012. Retrieved
13 November 2012.
46. "Google Ngram Viewer" (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=grill%253Aeng_us_201

2%252Fgrille%253Aeng_us_2012%252Cgrill%253Aeng_gb_2012%252Fgrille%253Aeng_gb_2012&
year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=5&share=&direct_url=t1%253B%252C%2
528grill%253Aeng_us_2012%2520/%2520grille%253Aeng_us_2012%2529%253B%252Cc0%253B.
t1%253B%252C%2528grill%253Aeng_gb_2012%2520/%2520grille%253Aeng_gb_2012%2529%25
3B%252Cc0). books.google.com.
grill:eng_us_2012/grille:eng_us_2012,grill:eng_gb_2012/grille:eng_gb_2012. Retrieved 29 October
2015.
47. "Online Etymology Dictionary" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hearken&allowed_in_fra
me=0).
48. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "jail | gaol"
49. tiscali.reference (http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data/d0081856.html) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070103161156/http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/
data/d0081856.html) 3 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 10 March 2007.
50. OED entry and British Journal of Applied Physics Volume 13-page 456
51. "Online Etymology Dictionary: licorice" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=licorice&allowed
_in_frame=0). Etymonline.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
52. Ernout, Alfred; Meillet, Antoine (2001). Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine. Paris:
Klincksieck. p. 362. ISBN 2-252-03359-2.
53. "The Century Dictionary Online in DjVu" (http://www.global-language.com/CENTURY/).
54. Definition for MIDRIF – Webster’s 1844 dictionary (http://edl.byu.edu/webster/term/1752861). Emily
Dickinson Lexicon. Brigham Young University.
55. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "mould | mold"
56. Oxford English Dictionary: plough, plow (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plough?
q=plough).
57. COED 11th Ed
58. "Maven's word of the day: rack/wrack" (http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=199804
20). Randomhouse.com. 20 April 1998. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
59. "Cald Rack" (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=65102&dict=CALD).
Dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
60. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "sceptic | skeptic"
61. Oxford English Dictionary, sceptic, skeptic.
62. Berube, Margery S.; Pickett, Joseph P.; Leonesio, Christopher (2005). "slew / slough / slue" (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=xb6ie6PqYhwC&pg=PA435). A Guide to Contemporary Usage & Style.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 435. ISBN 9780618604999.
63. "A Concise Dictionary of Middle English" (http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/concise/concise.html).
Pbm.com. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
64. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "story | storey"
65. sulphate (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/sulphate) in the Oxford Dictionaries Online
66. So long sulphur | Nature Chemistry (https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.301#ref1)
67. "Royal Society of Chemistry 1992 policy change" (http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/Display
ArticleForFree.cfm?doi=AN9921700001&JournalCode=AN). Rsc.org. 1 January 1992. Retrieved
4 March 2012.
68. "Royal Society of Chemistry 1992 policy change" (http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/Display
ArticleForFree.cfm?doi=AN9921700001&JournalCode=AN). Rsc.org. 1 January 1992. Retrieved
4 March 2012.
69. "Action over non-English spellings" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1039050.stm). BBC News.
24 November 2000. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
70. "sulphur" (http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=sulphur). Oxford English Dictionary (3rd

ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership (https://ww
w.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
71. "sulphur – definition of sulphur in English" (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sulphur).
Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
72. sulphur (https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=sulphur) in the American Heritage
Dictionary
73. Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sulphur)
74. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary labels the spelling sulphur as chiefly British but contradicts this in
the same entry's usage note by saying that both spellings are common in general usage in American
English. The usage note also ignores the modern widespread British usage of the spelling sulfur in
scientific and technical usage (reported e.g. by the Oxford Dictionaries): "The spelling sulfur
predominates in United States technical usage, while both sulfur and sulphur are common in general
usage. British usage tends to favor sulphur for all applications. The same pattern is seen in most of
the words derived from sulfur." Usage note, Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.co
m/dictionary/sulphur). . Retrieved 1 January 2008. The usage note in the Merriam-Webster
Unabridged Dictionary is more up to date: "The spelling sulfur now predominates in U.S. technical
and general usage. British usage still tends to favor sulphur, but use of that spelling has decreased
dramatically in recent decades and continues to do so. The growing preference for sulfur on both
sides of the Atlantic is no doubt encouraged by the recommendations of the Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry and other organizations. The same pattern is seen in most of the words derived
from sulfur." Usage note from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (http://unabridged.merria
m-webster.com/unabridged/sulfur).
75. The contrasting spellings of the chemical elements Al and S result in the American spelling
aluminum sulfide becoming aluminum sulphide in Canada and aluminium sulphide in older British
usage.
76. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry "sulphur | sulfur"
77. "Browse 1913 => Word Thru :: Search the 1913 Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
(Free)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120331113416/http://1913.mshaffer.com/d/word/thru).
1913.mshaffer.com. 16 October 2009. Archived from the original (http://1913.mshaffer.com/d/word/thr
u) on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
78. "US Code of Federal Regulations – Title 27: Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms, Section 5.22:
Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits" (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2008/aprqtr/pdf/27cfr5.2
2.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 25 July 2014.
79. Peters, p. 587. Yogourt is an accepted variant in French of the more normal Standard French yaourt.
80. "Merriam-Webster Online – Yogurt entry" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120227104015/http://mw1.
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yogurt). Mw1.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original (htt
p://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yogurt) on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
81. Rohdenburg, edited by Günter; Schlüter, Julia (2009). One language, two grammars? : differences
between British and American English (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
p. 59. ISBN 978-0-521-87219-5.
82. Bunton, David (1989). Common English Errors in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Longman. p. 6. ISBN 0-
582-99914-6.
83. Oxford English Dictionary, for ever.
84. AskOxford: forever (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/forever). Retrieved 24 June 2008. Cf.
Peters, p. 214.
85. For example, The Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/ar
ticle986724.ece), The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/page/0,,184825,00.html),
The Economist (http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=738537). Retrieved
24 June 2008.
86. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (http://www.bartleby.com/68/25/4025.html)

87. Marsh, David (14 July 2004). The Guardian Stylebook (https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/pag
e/0,,184844,00.html). Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-84354-991-3. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
070420145449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/page/0%2C%2C184844%2C00.html) from the
original on 20 April 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2007. "acronyms: take initial cap: Aids, Isa, Mori, Nato"
88. See for example "Pc bitten on face in Tube attack" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/65138
29.stm). BBC. 31 March 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2007.
89. "Units outside the SI" (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/outside.html). Essentials of the SI. NIST.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20091031222735/http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/outside.htm
l) from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009. "although both l and L are
internationally accepted symbols for the liter, to avoid this risk the preferred symbol for use in the
United States is L"
90. "Core learning in mathematics: Year 4" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160111173441/http://downloa
ds.nationalstrategies.co.uk/pdf/8ba397de2eb514799b8b85478f0df567.pdf) (PDF). Review of the
1999 Framework. DCSF. 2006. p. 4. Archived from the original (http://downloads.nationalstrategies.c
o.uk/pdf/8ba397de2eb514799b8b85478f0df567.pdf) (PDF) on 11 January 2016. Retrieved
22 October 2009. "Use, read and write standard metric units (km, m, cm, mm, kg, g, l, ml), including
their abbreviations"
91. "PM" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/PM). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-
Webster. 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
92. "P.M." (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/P.M.). The American Heritage
Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin. 2000.
93. "What is the correct or more usual written form when writing the time – a.m., am, or A.M.?" (http://ww
w.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/usage/time). AskOxford. Oxford University Press. Retrieved
21 October 2009.
94. See, e.g., The Associated Press Stylebook: 4 p.m.; Microsoft Manual of Style: 4 P.M. (however,
Microsoft prefers 24-hour time notations, in which 4 P.M. is 16:00.); The Chicago Manual of Style: 4
p.m. (recommended), also 4 PM or 4 P.M. (with PM in small capitals); Garner's Modern English
Usage: 4 p.m. or 4 PM (with PM in small capitals); The Gregg Reference Manual: 4 p.m. or 4 P.M.
(with PM in small capitals). See http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2009/06/what-
is-the-correct-time-am-pm-am-pm-am-pm-.html. See also https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/p.m.
95. Trask, Larry (1997). "Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations" (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/d
epartment/docs/punctuation/node30.html). Guide to Punctuation. University of Sussex. Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20101215000125/http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/pun
ctuation/node30.html) from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
96. Quinion, Michael (2010). "Punctuation and Quotation Marks" (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-p
un1.htm). World Wide Words. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101202134153/http://www.wo
rldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pun1.htm) from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December
2010.
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 (http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/003/008/099/003008-disclaimer.html?orig=/100/200/300/joe_clark/or
ganizing_marvellous/index.html) (e-book, version 1.1). ISBN 978-0-9809525-0-6.
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
Mencken, H. L. (1921). "Chapter 8. American Spelling > 1. The Two Orthographies" (http://www.bartl
eby.com/185/31.html). The American language: An inquiry into the development of English in the
United States (http://www.bartleby.com/185/) (2nd ed., rev. and enl. ed.). New York, NY: A.A. Knopf.
ISBN 1-58734-087-9.
Nicholson, Margaret (1957). A Dictionary of American-English Usage Based on Fowler's Modern
English Usage (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer00nich). Signet, by arrangement with
Oxford University Press.
Oxford English Dictionary, 20 vols. (1989) Oxford University Press.
Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961; repr. 2002) Merriam-Webster, Inc.
External links
The Chicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/)
The Guardian style guide (https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/0,,184913,00.html)
Word substitution list (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EnglishTranslation/WordSubstitution), by the Ubuntu
English (United Kingdom) Translators team (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EnglishTranslation)
What will the English language be like in 100 years? (https://theconversation.com/what-will-the-englis
h-language-be-like-in-100-years-50284) (future outlook)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=American_and_British_English_spelling_differences&oldid=960942044"
This page was last edited on 5 June 2020, at 19:20 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a
non-profit organization.

American and British English

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

American and British English

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

American and British English

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

6/12/2020 American and British English spelling differences - Wikipedia

American and British English spelling

popularizing certain spellings in America, but he did not originate

For the most part, the spelling systems of most Commonwealth

Latin-derived spellings (often through Romance)

Derivatives and inﬂected forms

Australian[35] and Canadian usage generally follows British.

Greek-derived and Latin-derived spellings

Greek-derived spellings (often through Latin and Romance)

-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)

Origin and recommendations

The same applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization, or

Doubled in British English

British calliper or caliper; American caliper.

Doubled in American English

Hard and soft "c"

Different spellings for different meanings

Different spellings for different pronunciations

Past tense differences

Miscellaneous spelling differences

The spelling draught reﬂects the older pronunciation, /drɑːxt/. Draft

gauge gauge, Both spellings have existed since Middle English.[139]

In the COBOL programming language, THRU is accepted as an

Compounds and hyphens

Acronyms and abbreviations

00. "Ampule" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ampule). Collins English Dictionary.

25. "Deﬁnition of apophthegm" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apophthegm).

46. "Google Ngram Viewer" (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=grill%253Aeng_us_201

70. "sulphur" (http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=sulphur). Oxford English Dictionary (3rd

86. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (http://www.bartleby.com/68/25/4025.html)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

This page was last edited on 5 June 2020, at 19:20 (UTC).

You might also like