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American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences.

Historical origins

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In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardized. Differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755), whereas many American English spellings follow Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828.

Webster was a strong proponent of spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the US by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the advocates of spelling reform in England, the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in the UK had little effect on present-day US spelling, and vice versa. While in many cases American English deviated in the 19th century from mainstream British spelling, on the other hand it has also often retained older forms.

The spelling systems of Commonwealth countries and Ireland, for the most part, closely resemble the British system. In Canada, however, while most spelling is "British", many "American" spellings are also used. Additional information on Canadian and Australian spelling is provided throughout the article.

Go fuck yourself

Latin-derived spellings

Go fuck yourself

Go fuck yourself

Go fuck yourself

Go fuck yourself

Greek spellings

Go fuck yourself

-ogue, -og

Some words of Greek origin, a few of which derive from Greek λόγος or αγωγός, can end either in -ogue or in -og: analog(ue), catalog(ue), dialog(ue), demagog(ue), pedagog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), synagog(ue) etc. In the UK (and generally in the Commonwealth), the -ogue endings are the standard. In the US, catalog has a slight edge over catalogue (the inflected forms, cataloged and cataloging v catalogued and cataloguing); analog is standard for the adjective, but both analogue and analog are current for the noun; in all other cases the -gue endings strongly prevail, for example monologue, except for such expressions as dialog box in computing, which are also used in the UK. Finally, in Canada, New Zealand and Australia analogue is used but like the US analog has some currency as a technical term (e.g. in electronics, as in "analog computer" and many video game consoles might have an analog stick).

Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ)

Many words are written with ae/æ or oe/œ in British English, but a single e in American English. The sound in question is /iː/ or /ɛ/ (or unstressed /ɨ/). Examples (with non-American letter in bold): anaemia, anaesthesia, caesium, diarrhoea, gynaecology, haemophilia, leukaemia, oesophagus, oestrogen, orthopaedic, paediatric. Words where British usage varies include encyclopaedia, foetus (though the British medical community deems this variant unacceptable for the purposes of journal articles and the like, since the Latin spelling is actually fetus), homoeopathy, mediaeval. In American usage, aesthetics and archaeology prevail over esthetics and archeology, while oenology is a minor variant of enology.

The Encyclopædia Britannica retained the traditional spelling even after relocating to the U.S.

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 imported words from all three languages, it is now usual to replace Æ/æ with Ae/ae and Œ/œ with Oe/oe. In many cases, the digraph has been reduced to a single e in all varieties of English: for example, oeconomics, praemium, and aenigma. In others, it is retained in all varieties: for example, phoenix, and usually subpoena. 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. British 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 on airship and aircraft. Airplane dates from 1907, at which time aero- was trisyllabic, often written aëro-.

Commonwealth usage. In Canada, e is usually preferred over oe and often over ae as well; in Australia and elsewhere, British usage prevails, but the spellings with just e are increasingly used. Manoeuvre is the only spelling in Australia and the most common one in Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also sometimes found. In Canada, oe and ae are used occasionally in the academic and science communities.

Internationally, the American spelling is closer to the usage in a number of other languages using the Latin alphabet; for instance, almost all Romance languages (which tend to have more phonemic spelling) lack the ae and oe spellings (a notable exception is French), as do Swedish, Polish, and others, while Dutch uses them ("ae" is rare and "oe" is the normal representation of the sound Template:IPA2, while written "u" represents either the sound y or ʏ in IPA). Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and some other languages retain the original ligatures. German, through umlauts, retains its equivalent of the ligature, for when written without the umlaut, words resemble the British usage (i.e. ä becomes ae and ö becomes oe). Similarly, Hungarian uses "é" as a replacement for "ae" (although it becomes "e" sometimes), and the special character "ő" (sometimes "ö") for "oe".

Compounds and hyphens

British English often prefers hyphenated compounds, such as counter-attack, whereas American English discourages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no compelling reason, so counterattack is much more common. Many dictionaries do not point out such differences. Canadian and Australian usage is mixed, although Commonwealth writers generally hyphenate compounds of the form noun plus phrase (such as editor-in-chief).

• any more or anymore: In sense "any longer", the single-word form is usual in North America and Australia but unusual in the UK, at least in formal writing. Other senses always have the two-word form; thus Americans distinguish "I couldn't love you anymore " from "I couldn't love you any more ".
• for ever or forever: Traditional British usage makes a distinction between for ever, meaning for eternity (or a very long time into the future), as in "If you are waiting for income tax to be abolished you will probably have to wait for ever"; and forever, meaning continually, always, as in "They are forever arguing". In contemporary British usage, however, forever prevails in the "for eternity" sense as well, in spite of several style guides maintaining the distinction. American writers usually use forever in all senses.
• near by or nearby: Some British writers make the distinction between the adverbial near by, which is written as two words, as in, "No one was near by"; and the adjectival nearby, which is written as one, as in, "The nearby house". In American English the one-word spelling is standard for both forms.

Doubled consonants

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 occurs only when the word's final syllable is stressed and when it also ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant. In British English, however, a final -l is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed. This exception is no longer usual in American English, apparently because of Noah Webster. The -ll- spellings are nonetheless still regarded as acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.

• The British English doubling is required for all inflections (-ed, -ing, -er, -est) and for noun suffixes -er, -or. Therefore, British counsellor, cruellest, modelling, quarrelled, signalling, traveller; American usually counselor, cruelest, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveler.
  • parallel keeps a single -l- in British English, as in American English (paralleling, unparalleled), to avoid a cluster -llell-.
  • Words with two vowels before final l are also spelled with -ll- before a suffix when the first vowel either acts as a consonant (Br equalling, initialled; US usually equaling, initialed) or belongs to a separate syllable (Br fu•el•ling, di•alled; US usually fu•el•ing di•aled)
    • The British/American distinction applies to victualler/victualer in spite of the irregular pronunciation Template:IPA-en
    • British woollen is a further exception due to the double vowel (US woolen); also, wooly is accepted in America though woolly dominates in both.
• Endings -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist, -ish usually do not double the l in British English: normalise, dualism, novelist, devilish
  • Exceptions: tranquillise; duellist, medallist, panellist, sometimes triallist
• For -ous, British English has a single l in scandalous and perilous, but two in marvellous and libellous.
• For -ee, British English has libellee.
• For -age British English has pupillage but vassalage.
• American English has unstressed -ll-, as in the UK, in some words where the root has -l. These are cases where the alteration occurs in the source language, often Latin. (Examples: bimetallism, cancellation, chancellor, crystallize, excellent, tonsillitis)
• But both dialects have compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling (notice the stress difference); revealing, fooling (double vowel before the l); hurling (consonant before the l).
• Canadian and Australian English largely follow British usage.

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 US, the spellings kidnaped and worshiped, introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s, are common alongside kidnapped and worshipped, the only standard British spellings.

Miscellaneous:

• British calliper or caliper; American caliper.
• British jewellery; American jewelry. The standard pronunciations (Template:IPA-en) do not reflect this difference. According to Fowler, jewelry used to be the "rhetorical and poetic" spelling in the UK. Canada has both, but jewellery is most used. Likewise, Commonwealth (including Canada) has jeweller and US has jeweler for a jewel(le)ry retailer.

Doubled in American English

Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans usually use a double l. 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 exhibiting this spelling difference include wil(l)ful, skil(l)ful, thral(l)dom, appal(l), fulfil(l), fulfil(l)ment, enrol(l)ment, instal(l)ment. These words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, fill, roll, stall, still. Cases where a single l nevertheless occurs in both American and British English include null→annul, annulment; till→until; and others where the connection is not transparent or the monosyllabic cognate is not in common use in American English (e.g. null is used mainly as a technical term in law and computer science).

In the UK, ll is used occasionally in distil(l), instil(l), enrol(l) and enthral(l)ment, and often in enthral(l), all of which are always spelled this way in American usage. Former UK spellings instal, fulness, and dulness are now rare. The Scottish tolbooth is cognate with toll booth, but has a specific distinct sense.

In both American and British usage, 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.

British fulfil and American fulfill are never fullfill or fullfil.

Dr Johnson wavered on this issue; his dictionary of 1755 lemmatizes distil and instill, downhil and uphill.

Dropped e

British English sometimes keeps silent e when adding suffixes where American English does not.

• British prefers ageing, American usually aging (compare raging, ageism). UK often routeing; US usually routing (for route; rout makes routing everywhere). Both systems retain the silent e in dyeing, singeing, swingeing, to distinguish from dying, singing, swinging. In contrast, bathe and the British bath both form bathing. UK often whingeing, US less so; whinge is chiefly British. Both systems vary for tinge and twinge; both prefer cringing, hinging, lunging, syringing.
• Before -able, UK prefers likeable, liveable, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable, where US prefers to drop the -e; but UK as US prefers breathable, curable, datable, lovable, movable, notable, provable, quotable, scalable, solvable, usable, and those where the root is polysyllabic, like believable or decidable. Both systems retain the silent e when necessary to preserve a soft c, ch, or g, as in traceable, cacheable, changeable; both retain e after -dge, as in knowledgeable, unbridgeable.
• Both abridgment and the more regular abridgement are current in the US, only the latter in the UK. Similarly for lodg(e)ment. Both judgment and judgement can be found everywhere, although the former strongly prevails in the US and the latter prevails in the UK except in law, where judgment is standard. Similarly for abridgment. Both prefer fledgling to fledgeling, but ridgeling to ridgling.
• The informal Briticisms moreish (causing a desire for more of something) and blokeish usually retain e; more established words like slavish and bluish usually do not.

Different spellings, different connotations

• artefact or artifact: In British usage, artefact is the main spelling and artifact a minor variant. In American English, artifact is the usual spelling. Canadians prefer artifact and Australians artefact, according to their respective dictionaries. Artefact reflects Arte-fact(um), the Latin source.
• dependant or dependent: British dictionaries distinguish between dependent (adjective) and dependant (noun). In the US, dependent is usual for both noun and adjective, notwithstanding that dependant is also an acceptable variant for the noun form in the US.
• disc or disk: Traditionally, disc used to be British and disk American. Both spellings are etymologically sound (Greek diskos, Latin discus), although disk is earlier. In computing, disc is used for optical discs (e.g. a CD, Compact Disc; DVD, Digital Versatile/Video Disc) while disk is used for products using magnetic storage (e.g. hard disk and floppy disk; short for diskette). For this limited application, these spellings are used in both the US and the Commonwealth.
• enquiry or inquiry: According to Fowler, inquiry should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and enquiry to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the OED, on the other hand, lists inquiry and enquiry as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer inquiry for the "formal inquest" sense. In the US, only inquiry is commonly used. In Australia, inquiry and enquiry are often interchangeable, but inquiry prevails in writing. Both are current in Canada, where enquiry is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research.
• ensure or insure: In the UK (and Australia), the word ensure (to make sure, to make certain) has a distinct meaning from the word insure (often followed by against – to guarantee or protect against, typically by means of an "insurance policy"). The distinction is only about a century old, and this helps explain why in (North) America ensure is just a variant of insure, more often than not. According to Merriam-Webster's usage notes, ensure and insure "are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or 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>.
• matt or matte: In the UK, matt refers to a non-glossy surface, and matte to the motion-picture technique; in the US, matte covers both.
• programme or program: The British programme is a 19th-century French version of program. Program first appeared in Scotland in the 17th century and is the only spelling found in the US. The OED entry, written around 1908 and listing both spellings, said program was preferable, since it conformed to the usual representation of the Greek as in anagram, diagram, telegram etc. In British English, program is the common spelling for computer programs, but for other meanings programme is used. In Australia, program has been endorsed by government style for all senses since the 1960s, although programme is also common; see also the name of The Micallef Program(me). In Canada, program prevails, and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary makes no meaning-based distinction between it and programme; many Canadian government documents use programme in all senses of the word also to match the spelling of the French equivalent.
• tonne or ton: in the UK, the spelling tonne refers to the metric unit (1000 kg), whereas in the US the same unit is referred to as a metric ton. Unqualified ton usually refers to the long ton (2,240 lb) in the UK, and to the short ton (2,000 lb) in the US.

See also meter/metre, for which the British English distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings was obviated in the regularization of American spellings.

Acronyms and abbreviations

Proper names formed as proper acronyms are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef / UNICEF. This does not apply to most initialisms, such as USA or HTML; though it is occasionally done for some, such as Pc (Police Constable).

Contractions, where the final letter is present, are often written in British English without stops/periods (Mr, Mrs, Dr, St). Abbreviations where the final letter is not present generally do take stops/periods (such as vol., etc., ed.); British English shares this convention with French: Mlle, Mme, Dr, Ste, but M. for Monsieur. In American and Canadian English, abbreviations like St., Mr., Mrs., and Dr. always require stops/periods.

Miscellaneous spelling differences

See also

• Australian English
• Canadian English
• South African English
• English orthography (spelling)
• Spelling reform
• The Chicago Manual of Style

References

• Burchfield, R. W. (Editor); Fowler, H. W. (1996). The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-869126-2
• Fowler, Henry; Winchester, Simon (introduction) (2003 reprint). A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series). Oxford Press. ISBN 0-19-860506-4.
• Hargraves, Orin (2003). Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515704-4
• Mencken, H. L. (1921), "Chapter 8. American Spelling > 1. The Two Orthographies", The American language: An inquiry into the development of English in the United States (2nd ed., rev. and enl. ed.), New York: A.A. Knopf, ISBN 1-58734-087-9
• Nicholson, Margaret; (1957). "A Dictionary of American-English Usage Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage". 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: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
• Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961; repr. 2002) Merriam-Webster, Inc.

External links

• Hart's Rules
• The Chicago Manual of Style
• The Guardian style guide
• Word substitution list, by the Ubuntu English (United Kingdom) Translators team

Notes

1. Both the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary have catalog as the main headword and catalogue as an equal variant.
2. Peters, p. 236.
3. Peters, p. 36.
4. Peters, p. 20.
5. Webster's Third, p. 23a.
6. Wilson, Kenneth G. (1993). "subpoena, subpena (n., v.)". The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231069898. Retrieved 2007-11-08. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
7. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, airplane.
8. Peters, p. 20, p. 389.
9. Peters, p. 338.
10. Peters, p. 258
11. Peters, p. 41.
12. Oxford English Dictionary, for ever.
13. AskOxford: forever. Retrieved 24 June 2008. Cf. Peters, p. 214.
14. For example, The Times, The Guardian, The Economist. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
15. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English
16. ^ Peters, p. 309.
17. Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, traveller, traveler.
18. Peters, p. 581
19. Zorn, Eric (1997-06-08). "Errant Spelling: Moves for simplification turn Inglish into another langwaj". Chicago Tribune. pp. Section 3A page 14. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
20. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, jewellery UK, US jewelry
21. Peters, p. 283
22. Peters, p. 501.
23. Peters, p. 22.
24. Peters, p. 480. Also National Routeing Guide
25. ^ British National Corpus
26. Peters, p. 7
27. Peters, p. 303.
28. "blokeish". [[Concise Oxford English Dictionary|Concise OED]]. Retrieved 2007-04-10. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
29. Oxford English Dictionary, artefact.
30. Peters, p. 49.
31. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. March 2009.
32. Merriam-Webster Online. (Accessed 30 December 2007)
33. Howarth, Lynne C (1999-06-14). ""Executive summary" from review of "International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources"". American Library Association. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
34. Peters, p. 282.
35. http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?title=21st&query=inquiry
36. Peters, p. 285
37. Merriam-Webster Online. (Accessed 30 December 2007)
38. Peters, p. 340.
39. ^ Peters, p. 443.
40. Marsh, David (14 July 2004). The Guardian Stylebook. Atlantic Books. ISBN 1843549913. Retrieved 2007-04-09. acronyms: take initial cap: Aids, Isa, Mori, Nato
41. See for example "Pc bitten on face in Tube attack". BBC. 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
42. ^ Peters, p. 104.
43. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-4-19.
44. Merriam-Webster Online. (Accessed 1 January 2008)
45. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. (Accessed 1 January 2008)
46. "draught". Concise OED. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
47. Peters, p. 165.
48. Oxford English Dictionary, draught.
49. Garner, Bryan A. (1998). A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. New York: OUP. p. 313. ISBN 0195078535.
50. "gauntlet". Concise OED. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
51. Peters, p. 235
52. tiscali.reference. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
53. Ernout, Alfred (2001). Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine. Paris: Klincksieck. p. 362. ISBN 2252033592. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
54. Peters, p. 321.
55. Peters, p. 360
56. Peters, p. 392.
57. Oxford English Dictionary, phoney, phony
58. Peters, p. 449.
59. Oxford English Dictionary, plough, plow.
60. Peters, p. 230.
61. Maven's word of the day: rack/wrack
62. Cald Rack
63. Peters, p. 502.
64. Oxford English Dictionary, sceptic, skeptic.
65. Royal Society of Chemistry 1992 policy change
66. "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. (Accessed 1 January 2008)
67. The contrasting spellings of the chemical elements Al and S mean that the American spelling aluminum sulfide becomes aluminum sulphide in Canada, and as aluminium sulphide in older UK usage.
68. Peters, p. 553.
69. Peters, p. 556.
70. Peters, p. 587. Yogourt is an accepted variant in French of the more normal Standard French yaourt.
71. Merriam-Webster Online – Yogurt entry

• American and British English differences
• English spelling