Jump to content

American and British English spelling differences and User:Brianhass: Difference between pages

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Difference between pages)
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
JackLumber (talk | contribs)
6,557 edits
→Miscellaneous spelling differences: pay che[que|ck], che[qu|ck]ing account. Commenting out "dis[k|c]" per talk
 
Added physics user box.
 
Line 1: Line 1:
<table style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; width: 242px; border: #99B3FF solid 1px">
{{main|American and British English differences}}
{{Boxboxtop|About User Brianhass}}
{{User:MiraLuka/Userboxes/User male}}
{{User South Dakota}}
{{user degree|BS}}
{{User en}}
{{user German}}
{{user Irish}}
{{User Family History}}
{{user Local History}}
{{user skygazing}}
{{User physics}}
{{User Doctor Who Doctor|3}}
{{User Star Trek series}}
{{Boxboxbottom}}
</table>


In the early [[18th century]], spelling in [[English language|English]] was not regular; current [[British English|British]] spellings follow, for the most part, those of [[Samuel Johnson]]'s ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language|Dictionary of the English Language]]'' ([[1755]]), while some of the now characteristic [[American English|American]] spellings, such as ''center'', ''color'', and ''traveler'', were introduced, although often not created, by [[Noah Webster]] (''[[An American Dictionary of the English Language]]'', [[1828]]), who was a strong proponent of [[spelling reform]] for a variety of reasons, both philological and nationalistic. (Many spelling changes proposed in the U.S. by Webster himself and, in the early [[20th century]], by the Simplified Spelling Board never caught on.) Among the advocates of spelling reform in [[England]], the influences of those who preferred the [[Norman Conquest of England|Norman]] (or [[French language|french]]ified) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in Britain had little effect on present-day U.S. spelling, and vice versa. While in the [[19th century]] American English deviated from mainstream British spelling in many cases, on the other hand it has often retained older forms (''skeptic'', ''curb'', ''tire'', ''defense'', ''program'', ''-ize'', etc.)


My name is Brian Hass; and, I am a resident of southeastern part of the state of [[South Dakota]] in the [[United States]]. My interests include [[astronomy]], [[genealogy]], [[history]], [[science]], [[science fiction]], and [[space exploration]].
The spelling systems of [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries other than the UK and Ireland closely resemble the British system (with possibly the exception of Canada, where many "American" spellings are also used, to various extents, often alongside of their "British" counterparts.) Hence, the term [[Commonwealth English]] will herein be used to refer to the orthography items shared by the [[British Isles]] and all the English-speaking countries of the Commonwealth, as opposed to American orthography. Differences within Commonwealth usage are duly noted.


==Other Wiki User Pages==
*[[w:simple:User:Brianhass|Simple English]]


==External Links==
==Spelling and pronunciation==
*[http://www.geocities.com/brianmhass/kteq/ The D.J.'s from Hell website] by Brian Hass

*[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brianhass/ The Farley/Hass Genealogy Web Site] by Brian Hass
In a few miscellaneous cases, [[lexeme|essentially the same word]] has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation. Commonwealth as Britain except where noted.
*[http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Lot/8256/lost-and-found.html The Lost and Found Episodes of "Doctor Who"] by Brian Hass
{|
*[http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&GSln=Farley&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=44&GSob=n&GRid=6773793&MRid=46547457& Member's Page] at [[Find A Grave]][[Category:Male Wikipedians]]
!Britain || U.S. || Remarks
|-- valign="top"
|[[aluminium]] || aluminum || ''Aluminium'' is the international standard in the sciences ([[IUPAC]]); the American spelling is nonetheless used by many American scientists. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| arse || ass || In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey" is ''ass'' in both. Both forms are found in Canada and the term is more or less interchangeable in the UK, although the pronunciation differs between spellings.
|-- valign="top"
| behove || behoove || Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| carburettor || [[carburetor]] || The British pronunciation stresses the third syllable; the American stresses the first. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| [[charivari]] || shivaree, charivari || In the U.S., where both terms are mainly regional, ''charivari'' is however pronounced usually as ''shivaree'', which is also found in Canada and [[Cornwall]], and is a corruption of the French word.
|-- valign="top"
| [[coupé]] || coupe || for a 2-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is ''coupé'' in both; unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always ''coupe''.
|-- valign="top"
| fillet || fillet, filet || Meat or fish. Pronounced as in French in the U.S. if spelled ''filet''. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
|furore || furor || ''Furore'' is a late 18th-century Italian loan that replaced the latinate form in Britain in the following century, and is usually pronounced with a voiced ''e''. Canada as U.S. Australia has both.
|-- valign="top"
| haulier || hauler || Haulage contractor. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| maths || math || Abbreviations of ''[[mathematics]]''. New Zealand uses ''maths''. Canada as U.S. and increased use of ''math'' in Australia due to U.S. influences.
|-- valign="top"
| moustache || mustache || The Commonwealth spelling is sometimes found in America, and so is the second-syllable stress pronunciation, regardless of the spelling.
|-- valign="top"
| mum(my) || mom(my) || Mother. ''Mom'' is regionally found in Britain ([[West Midlands English]]). Some British dialects have ''mam''. Canada has both.
|-- valign="top"
| pernickety || persnickety || ''Persnickety'' is a late 19th-century North American alteration of the Scottish word ''pernickety''.
|-- valign="top"
| pyjamas || pajamas || The Commonwealth pronunciation is common in America, though the spelling is usually changed.
|-- valign="top"
| quin || quint || Abbreviations of ''[[quintuplet]]''.
|-- valign="top"
| routeing || routing || As the [[present participle]] of ''route'', to avoid confusion with ''rout''. Canada as U.S. British English makes a phonemic distinction; General American English does not, though Northeastern and Southern dialects do.
|-- valign="top"
| scallywag || scalawag || In the U.S. (where the word originated, as ''scalawag'') ''scallywag'' is not unknown. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| snigger, snicker || snicker || ''Snigger'' can occur in the U.S., although it can cause offence due to the similarity to ''[[nigger]]''. In Canada ''snigger'' can have malicious connotations; in New Zealand and Australia ''snigger'' prevails.
|-- valign="top"
| speciality || specialty || In British English, ''specialty'' occurs mainly in the field of [[Medicine]]. It is also a legal term for a [[contract]] under seal. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
| titbit || tidbit || Canada as U.S.
|}

==Latin-derived spellings==
=== ''-our'' / ''-or''===
Most words ending in unstressed ''-our'' in Britain (e.g. ''colour'', ''flavour'', ''honour'') end in ''-or'' in the U.S. (e.g. ''color'', ''flavor'', ''honor'').
Most words of this category derive from Latin non-agent nouns having nominative ''-or''; the first such borrowings into English were from early [[Old French]] and the ending was ''-or'' or ''-ur''. After the [[Norman Conquest]], the termination became ''-our'' in [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-French]] in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in ''-or''. The ''-our'' ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but also applied to earlier French borrowings. After the [[Renaissance]], some such borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original ''-or'' termination; many words once ending in ''-our'' (for example, ''chancellour'' and ''governour'') now end in ''-or'' everywhere. Many words of the ''-our/-or'' group do not have a Latin counterpart; for example, ''armo(u)r'', ''behavio(u)r'', ''harbo(u)r'', ''neighbo(u)r''; also ''[[Arbor_%28garden%29#Arbour|arbo(u)r]]'' in sense "bower"; senses "tree" and "tool" are always ''[[arbor]]'', a [[false cognate]] of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that ''-or'' be used for words of Latin origin and ''-our'' for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated ''-or'' only and others ''-our'' only.

As early as 1755 Dr Johnson settled on ''-our'', while Webster's 1828 dictionary featured only ''-or'' and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the U.S. By contrast, Johnson, unlike Webster, was not a supporter of spelling reform and for the most part simply recorded what he found. For example, documents [http://www.oldbaileyonline.org] from the [[Old Bailey]], a court in London, support the view of the [[OED]] that by the 17th century "colour" was the settled spelling. Those English speakers who began to move across the Atlantic would have taken these habits with them and [[H L Mencken]] makes the point that, "''honor'' appears in the Declaration of Independence, but it seems to have got there rather by accident than by design. In Jefferson’s original draft it is spelled ''honour''. " [http://www.bartleby.com/185/32.html] Examples such as ''color'', ''flavor'', ''behavior'', ''harbor'', or ''neighbor'' scarcely appear in the Old Bailey's court records from the 17th and 18th century, whereas examples of their ''-our'' counterparts are generally numbered in hundreds. One notable exception is ''honor'': ''honor'' and ''honour'' were equally frequent down to the 17th century, and ''Honor'' still is in Britain the normal spelling for a person's name.

'''Derivatives and inflected forms'''. In derivatives and inflected forms of the ''-our/or'' words, in British usage the ''u'' is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (''neighbourhood'', ''humourless'', ''savoury'') and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been naturalised (''favourite'', ''honourable'', ''colourise''/''colourize'', ''behaviourism''); before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the ''u'' can be dropped (''honorific'', ''honorist'', ''vigorous'', ''humorous'', ''laborious'', ''invigorate''), can be either dropped or retained (''coloration'', ''colouration''), or can be retained (''colourist''). In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all environments (''favorite'', ''savory'', etc.)

'''Exceptions'''. The word ''glamour'' comes from Scots, not Latin or French, and is usually spelled ''glamour'' (rarely ''glamor'') in the U.S. and always ''glamour'' everywhere else; ''saviour'' is a common variant of ''savior'' in the U.S.; the name of the herb ''savory'' is thus spelled everywhere (although the probably related adjective ''savo(u)ry'' does have a ''u'' in Britain.)

'''Commonwealth usage'''. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. However, in Canada ''-or'' endings are not uncommon, particularly in the [[Prairie Provinces]]. In Australia, ''-or'' terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions.

=== ''-re'' / ''-er''===
In Commonwealth English, some words of French or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by ''-re'', with the ''-re'' unstressed and pronounced {{IPA|[ə(ɹ)]}}. Most of these words have the ending ''-er'' in the U.S. This is especially true of endings ''-bre'' and ''-tre'': ''fibre/fiber'', ''sabre/saber'', ''centre/center'' (though some places in the United States have "Centre" in their names), ''spectre/specter'' (though ''spectre'' is acceptable in the U.S.). ''Theatre'' has started to take on a different meaning from ''theater'' in the U.S. The latter is a more general term, the former tends to be applied to live theatrical performances (i.e., not films). ''Macabre'' is an exception, perhaps because in the U.S., the word is regarded as French, and is even pronounced as a French word, if the final syllable is pronounced at all. The ending ''-cre'' is retained in America: ''acre'', ''massacre'', and so on; this prevents the ''c'' losing its hard ''k'' sound. There are not many other ''-re'' endings, even in Commonwealth English: ''louvre'', ''manoeuvre'', ''meagre'', ''ochre'', ''ogre'', ''sepulchre'', and ''euchre''. In the U.S., ''ogre'' and ''euchre'' are standard, ''manoeuvre'' and ''sepulchre'' are usually ''maneuver'' and ''sepulcher'', and the other ''-re'' forms listed are variants of the equivalent ''-er'' form.

Of course the above relates to root words; ''-er'' rather than ''-re'' is universal as a suffix for agentive (''reader'', ''winner'') and comparative (''louder'', ''nicer'') forms. One consequence is the Commonwealth distinction of ''meter'' for a [[measuring instrument]] from ''metre'' for the [[metre|unit of measurement]]. However, while [[Meter (poetry)|poetic metre]] is often ''-re'', [[pentameter]], [[hexameter]], etc. are always ''-er''.

The ''e'' preceding the ''r'' is retained in U.S. derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, ''fibers'', ''reconnoitered'', ''centering'', which are, naturally, ''fibres'', ''reconnoitred'' and ''centring'' respectively in Commonwealth English. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, ''central'', ''fibrous'', ''spectral''. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an ''-re'' Commonwealth spelling: for example, ''entry'' derives from ''enter'', which is never spelled ''entre''.

=== ''-ce'' / ''-se''===
Nouns ending in ''-ce'' with ''-se'' verb forms: American English retains the noun/verb distinction in ''advice'' / ''advise'' and ''device'' / ''devise'' (pronouncing them differently), but has lost the same distinction with ''licence'' / ''license'' and ''practice'' / ''practise'' that Commonwealth spelling retains. American English uses ''practice'' and ''license'' for both meanings. Canadian English generally follows Commonwealth usage for ''licence''/''license'' but American usage for ''practice''. Also, Commonwealth ''defence'', ''offence'', ''pretence''; American ''defense'', ''offense'', ''pretense'': but compounds such as ''defensive'', ''offensive'', ''pretension'', ''pretentious'' are always thus spelled. Canadian English follows Commonwealth usage for ''defence'' and ''offence'', but both ''pretence'' and ''pretense'' are found.

=== ''-xion'' / ''-ction''===
The spellings ''connexion'', ''inflexion'', ''deflexion'', ''reflexion'' are now somewhat rare in everyday usage, perhaps understandably as their stems are ''connect'', ''inflect'', ''deflect'', and ''reflect'' and there are many such words in English that result in a ''-tion'' ending. The more common ''connection'', ''inflection'', ''deflection'', ''reflection'' have almost become the standard internationally. However, the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' lists the older spellings as the etymological form, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root ''-xio''.

''Connexion'' is still used in legal texts. British [[Methodism]] retains the [[eighteenth century]] spelling ''connexion'' to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons, and this spelling has also found favour amongst recent government initiatives such as [[connexions]] (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until around [[1984]] and [[1985]], [[The Times]] of [[London]] also used ''connexion'' as part of its house style.

In both forms, ''complexion'' (which comes from the stem ''complex'') is standard and ''complection'' is not. However, the adjective ''complected'' (as in "dark complected"), although sometimes objected to, is more common than ''complexioned'' in the U.S. but rare in Britain. Likewise, ''crucifiction'' is usually regarded as an error; ''crucifixion'' (from ''crucifix'') is the correct spelling. (Etymologically, the spelling ''crucifiction'' would in any case mean not “fixing to a cross” (Lat. ''figere'') but “moulding into a cross” (Lat. ''fingere'')).

==Greek-derived spellings==
=== ''-ise'' / ''-ize''===
<cite id=-ise_.2F_-ize> </cite>
American spelling accepts only ''organize'', ''recognize'', and ''realize''. British usage accepts both the older ''-ize'' form and the frenchified ''-ise'' form (''organise'', ''recognise'', ''realise''). However, the ''-ize'' spelling is now rarely used in the UK in the mass media and newspapers, which is why it is often incorrectly regarded as an Americanism <ref>{{cite web
| date = 2006
| url = http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/ize?view=uk
| title = Are spellings like 'privatize' and 'organize' Americanisms?
| publisher = AskOxford.com
}}
</ref>, even though it is preferred by some authoritative British sources, including ''[[Fowler's Modern English Usage]]'' and the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', which until recently often did not list the ''-ise'' form of individual words, even as an alternative. Indeed, it firmly deprecates this usage, writing, "The suffix, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Greek... (or) Latin ''-izare''; and, as the pronunciation is also with ''z'', there is no reason why in English the special French spelling in ''-iser'' should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic."

But the OED has been waging a losing battle. The ''-ise'' form is used by the British government and is more prevalent in common usage within the UK today; the ratio between ''-ise'' and ''-ize'' stands at 3:2 in the [[British National Corpus]], according to Pam Peters (2004, ''-ize/-ise''). In Australia and New Zealand ''-ise'' spellings are strongly preferred; the Australian ''[[Macquarie Dictionary]]'', among other sources, gives the ''-ise'' spelling first, many people in New Zealand and Australia believe -ize to be an "Americanism" and -ise to be British, and are even taught in school of the former being the case. Conversely, Canadian usage is essentially like American, although ''-ise'' is occasionally found in Canada.

The same pattern applies to derivatives and [[inflection]]s such as ''colonisation''/''colonization''.

Worldwide, using ''-ize'' in combination with British spelling is common in academic publishing (e.g. used in the science journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', the [[WHO]]'s [[ICD]] and [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] standards).

Endings in ''-yze'' are now found only in the U.S. and Canada. Thus, Commonwealth (including sometimes Canada) ''analyse'', ''catalyse'', ''hydrolyse'', ''paralyse''; North American ''analyze'', ''catalyze'', ''hydrolyze'', ''paralyze''. It is worth noting, however, that ''analyse'' was commonly spelled ''analyze'' from the first—a spelling also accepted by Samuel Johnson; the word, which came probably from French ''analyser'', on Greek analogy would have been ''analysize'', from French ''analysiser'', of which ''analyser'' was practically a shortened form.

Note that not all spellings are interchangeable; some verbs take the ''-z-'' form exclusively, for instance ''capsize'', ''seize'' (except in the legal phrase ''to be seised of''/''to stand seised to''), ''size'' and ''prize'' (only in the "appraise" sense), whereas others take only ''-s-'': ''advertise'', ''advise'', ''apprise'', ''arise'', ''chastise'', ''circumcise'', ''comprise'', ''compromise'', ''demise'', ''despise'', ''devise'', ''disguise'', and ''televise''. Finally, the verb ''prise'' (meaning to force or lever) is spelled ''prize'' in the U.S. and ''prise'' anywhere else, including Canada.

=== ''-ogue'' / ''-og''===

Some words of Greek origin, a few of which derive from Greek ''λογος'', can end either in ''-ogue'' or in ''-og'': ''analog(ue)'', ''catalog(ue)'', ''dialog(ue)'', ''demagog(ue)'', ''pedagog(ue)'', ''monolog(ue)'', ''homolog(ue)'', etc. In Britain (and generally in the Commonwealth), the ''-gue'' endings are the standard. In the U.S., ''catalog'' has a slight edge over ''catalogue'' (note the inflected forms, ''cataloged'' and ''cataloging'' vs. ''catalogued'' and ''cataloguing''); ''analog'' is standard for the adjective, but both ''analogue'' and ''analog'' are acceptable for the noun; in all other cases the ''-gue'' endings prevail, except for such expressions as ''[[dialog box]]'' in computing, which are used in Britain as well. Finally, outside the U.S. ''analog'' has currency as a technical term (e.g. in electronics, as in "analog computer").


===Simplification of ''ae'' (''æ'') and ''oe'' (''œ'') ===
Many words are written with ''ae'' or ''oe'' in British English, but a single ''e'' in American English. The sound in question is {{IPA|[i]}} or {{IPA|[ɛ]}} (or unstressed {{IPA|[ə]}}). Examples (with non-American letter in '''bold'''): ''[[anemia|an'''a'''emia]]'', ''[[anesthesia|an'''a'''esthesia]]'', ''[[cesium|c'''a'''esium]]'', ''[[diarrhea|diarrh'''o'''ea]]'', ''[[gynecology|gyn'''a'''ecology]]'', ''[[hemophilia|h'''a'''emophilia]]'', ''[[leukemia|leuk'''a'''emia]]'', ''[[esophagus|'''o'''esophagus]]'', ''[[estrogen|'''o'''estrogen]]'', ''[[orthopedic|orthop'''a'''edic]]'', ''[[pediatric|p'''a'''ediatric]]''. Words where British usage varies include ''[[encyclopedia|encyclop'''a'''edia]]'', ''[[fetus|f'''o'''etus]]'' (though the British medical community deems this variant unacceptable for the purposes of journal articles and the like, since the Latin spelling is actually ''fetus''), ''[[homeopathy|hom'''o'''eopathy]]'', ''[[medieval|medi'''a'''eval]]''. In American usage, ''[[aesthetics]]'' and ''[[archaeology]]'' prevail over ''esthetics'' and ''archeology'', while ''[[oenology]]'' is a minor variant of ''enology''. This difference is also half of the distinction between British ''man'''o'''euvre'' and American ''maneuver''.

The [[History of the Greek language#Ancient Greek dialects|Ancient Greek]] [[diphthong]]s &lt;αι&gt; and &lt;οι&gt; were [[transliteration|transliterated]] into [[Latin]] as [[Æ|<ae>]] and [[OE ligature|<oe>]]. The [[ligature (typography)|ligature]]s æ and œ were introduced when the sounds became [[monophthong]]s, and later applied to words not of Greek origin, in both Latin (for example, ''fœtus'') 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, '''''o'''economics'', ''pr'''a'''emium'', and ''trag'''o'''edy''. In others, especially names, it is retained in all varieties: for example, ''[[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]]'', ''[[Caesar]]'', ''[[Oedipus]]''. There is no reduction of [[Latin declension#First declension|Latin -ae plurals]] (e.g. ''larv'''ae'''''); nor where the digraph <ae>/<oe> does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, ''[[maelstrom]]'', ''toe''. British ''[[fixed-wing aircraft|aeroplane]]'' is an instance (compare other ''aero-'' words such as ''[[aerosol]]''). 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-''.

==Compounds and hyphens==

Commonwealth English often favours 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.

==Common suffixes==

Commonwealth English generally doubles final ''-l'' when adding suffixes that begin with a vowel if -l is preceded by a single vowel, whereas American English oftenest doubles it only on stressed syllables. (Thus American spelling treats ''-l'' the same as other final consonants, whereas Commonwealth spelling treats it irregularly.) Commonwealth ''counsellor'', ''equalling'', ''modelling'', ''quarrelled'', ''signalling'', ''travelled''; American usually ''counselor'' (but ''chancellor''), ''equaling'', ''modeling'', ''quarreled'', ''signaling'', ''traveled''.
* But ''compelled'', ''excelling'', ''propelled'', ''rebelling'' in both (notice the stress difference); ''revealing'', ''fooling'' (double vowel before the l); ''hurling'' (consonant before the l).
* But Commonwealth ''fuelling'', ''woollen''; American ''fueling'', ''woolen''.
* Conversely, British writers use a single ''l'' before suffixes beginning with a consonant where Americans use a double: British ''enrolment'', ''fulfilment'' (but ''fulfilled''), ''instalment'', ''skilful''; American ''enrollment'', ''fulfillment'', ''installment'', ''skillful''. The infinitives of these verbs can also be different: British ''enrol'', ''fulfil''; U.S. ''enroll'', ''fulfill''; in Britain, ''instal'' is a less common variant of ''install''.
* British English often keeps silent ''e'' when adding suffixes where American English does not. British often ''ageing'', ''routeing''; American usually ''aging'', ''routing''. Both systems retain the silent ''e'' when necessary to preserve a soft ''c'' or ''g'', as in ''traceable'', and in the word ''[[dye]]ing'', to distinguish it from ''[[death|dying]]''. Finally, ''judgement'' and ''judgment'' are both standard everywhere, although the former prevails in Britain and the latter in the U.S.

==Miscellaneous spelling differences==

[[Proper noun|Proper name]]s formed as [[acronym]]s are often rendered in [[title case]] by Commonwealth writers, but usually as [[upper case]] by Americans: for example, ''[[NASA|Nasa / NASA]]'' or ''[[UNICEF|Unicef / UNICEF]]''. This never applies to certain [[initialism]]s, such as ''[[United States of America|USA]]'' or ''[[HTML]]''.

There is a tendency for new technical meanings of old words to be coined in America and then re-exported to the Commonwealth with the American spelling retained, thus creating a written distinction between the old and new meanings which does not exist in American English. See ''disk'', ''program'' and possibly ''artifact''. But compare also ''meter'', for which an older English written distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings once existed, but was obviated in the regularization of American spellings.

Throughout the following table, Canadian and Australian spelling is the same as British except where noted. Where Australian spelling follows U.S. usage, New Zealand often prefers the British variant.
{|
!Britain || U.S. || Remarks
|-- valign="top"
|annexe || annex || To ''annex'' is the verb in both Commonwealth and American usage; however, when speaking of ''an annex(e)'' (the noun referring to an extension of a main building, not military conquest, which would be ''annexation''), it is usually spelt with an ''-e'' at the end in the Commonwealth (except Canada), but in the U.S. it is not.
|-- valign="top"
|any more || anymore || In sense "any longer", the single-word form is usual in North America, New Zealand and Australia but unusual and disputed in Britain. 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]".
|-- valign="top"
|artefact || artifact || Commonwealth usage is mixed, but some speakers claim to write ''artefact'' to mean “a product of artisanry” but ''artifact'' when the meaning is “a flaw in experimental results caused by the experiment itself”. This may be an example of the American spelling becoming universal for the technical sense of a nontechnical word: compare ''disk'', ''program''. Some American authorities regard "artifact" as non-standard.
|-- valign="top"
|axe || ax || Both noun and verb; ''axe'' used also in the U.S.
|-- valign="top"
|camomile, chamomile || chamomile, camomile || In Britain, according to the OED, "the spelling ''cha-'' is chiefly in pharmacy, after Latin; that with ''ca-'' is literary and popular". In the U.S. ''chamomile'' dominates in all senses. In Canada ''chamomile'' seems to prevail.
|-- valign="top"
|cheque || check || For a bank ''cheque''. Hence ''pay cheque'' and ''paycheck''. Accordingly, the North American term for what is elsewhere known as a ''current account'' or ''cheque account'' is spelled ''chequing account'' in Canada and ''checking account'' in the U.S. Some U.S. financial institutions, notably [[American Express]], prefer ''cheque''.
|-- valign="top"
|chequer || checker || As in ''chequerboard''/''checkerboard'', ''chequered''/''checkered flag'', etc. Canada as U.S.
|-- valign="top"
|cosy || cozy || In all senses (adjective, noun, verb). In Canada ''cozy'' prevails.
|-- valign="top"
|cypher, cipher || cipher || Both spellings are quite old.
<!--|-- valign="top"
|disc, disk || disk, disc || Both spellings are etymologically sound (Greek ''diskos'', Latin ''discus''), although ''disk'' is earlier. <!--Needs to be cleaned up & expanded-->In the U.S., ''disc'' is used for optical discs (e.g. a CD ([[Compact Disc]]), [[DVD]] (Digital Versatile Disc)) while ''disk'' is used for everything else (e.g. floppy disk and hard disk). In computing (among other fields), both spellings are used in both the U.S. and the Commonwealth &mdash; the two spellings are generally used mutually exclusively to refer to [[disc]]s of different types. -->
|-- valign="top"
|draught || draft || The UK uses ''draught'' for a plan or sketch, for dispensing drinks ([[draught beer]]), for animals used for pulling heavy loads ("a draught horse"), for a current of air, and for a ship's minimum depth of water to float; it uses ''draft'' for a preliminary version of a document and for the verb meaning to write it, for an order of payment, and for military conscription (although this last meaning is not as common as in American English). The U.S. uses ''draft'' in all these cases (except in regard to drinks, where ''draught'' is sometimes found). Canada uses both systems; in Australia, New Zealand, ''draft'' is used for technical drawings, is accepted for the "current of air" meaning, and is preferred by professionals in the nautical sense. The pronunciation is always the same for all meanings within a dialect (RP {{IPA|/drɑ:ft/}}, General American {{IPA|/dræft/}}). The spelling ''draught'' is older; ''draft'' appeared first in the late 16th century.
In some Commonwealth countries, [[draughts]] is also the name of the board game known as ''checkers'' in the U.S.
|-- valign="top"
|er, erm || uh, um || In speech, an interjection denoting hesitation or uncertainty. Both &lt;er&gt; and &lt;u&gt; are [[pronunciation spelling]]s for a [[schwa]] or similar [[central vowel]] sound. The U.S. variant is common in Canada, New Zealand and Australia; the British variant is also used in the U.S.
|-- valign="top"
|for ever || forever || In British usage, ''for ever'' means for eternity (or a very long time), as in "I have been waiting for you for ever." ''Forever'' means continually, always, as in "They are forever arguing." ''Forever'' prevails in all senses in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
|--
|glycerine || glycerin, glycerine || [[Glycerol]] is the international standard in the sciences ([[IUPAC]])
|-- valign="top"
|jail, gaol || jail || ''Jail'' prevails everywhere, although ''gaol'' is still an official spelling in New Zealand, Australia; in Britain, ''gaol'' and ''gaoler'' are used, apart from literary usage, chiefly to describe a mediaeval building and guard.
|-- valign="top"
|grey || gray || ''Grey'' became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others, and is but a minor variant in American English. Some American writers{{fact}} tend to assign wistful, positive connotations to ''grey'', as in "a grey fog hung over the skyline", whereas ''gray'' often carries connotations of drabness, "a gray, gloomy day."
|-- valign="top"
|jewellery || jewelry || According to Fowler, ''jewelry'' used to be the "rhetorical and poetic" spelling in Britain. Canada has both. Likewise, Commonwealth (including Canada) has ''jeweller'' and U.S. has ''jeweler'' for a jewel(le)ry retailer.
|-- valign="top"
|kerb || curb || For the noun designating the edge of a roadway (the edge of a (UK) pavement/(U.S.) sidewalk). ''Curb'' is the oldest spelling. Canada as U.S.
|--
|liquorice || licorice || ''Licorice'', foregrounded by Canadian and Australian dictionaries, is rarely found in the UK; ''liquorice'', which derived from ''licorice'' by [[folk etymology]], is nonexistent in the U.S.
|--
|mollusc || mollusk, mollusc || The related adjective is normally ''molluscan'' in both.
|--
|mould || mold || In all senses of the word. In Canada both have wide acceptance.
|--
|moult || molt
|-- valign="top"
|neurone, neuron || neuron || ''Neuron'' prevails in Canada, New Zealand and Australia; both are common in Britain.
|--
|plough || plow || ''Plough'' can be used in the U.S. to refer to the horse-drawn variety, whereas ''plow'' is used to refer to more modern ones. ''Plow'' is also used in Canada.
|-- valign="top"
|programme || program || The British spelling is a 19th-century frenchified version of ''program'', which first appeared in Scotland in the 17th century. In British English, ''program'' is the traditional spelling for computer programs, but ''programme'' is now common in this sense and increasingly used by newspapers and magazines. For other meanings, ''programme'' is used. ''Program'' prevails in all senses in Canada and Australia; the [[Canadian Oxford Dictionary]] makes no meaning-based distinction between the two, and many Canadian government documents use ''programme'' in the "software" sense. New Zealand follows British usage.
|-- valign="top"
|sceptic (-al, -ism) || skeptic (-al, -ism) || The American spelling, akin to Greek, preferred by Fowler, and used by many Canadians, is the earliest form. ''Sceptic'' also pre-dates the settlement of the U.S. and follows the French ''sceptique'' and Latin ''scepticus''. In the mid-18th century Dr Johnson's dictionary listed ''skeptic'' without comment or alternative but this form dropped out in England. New Zealanders, Australians generally follow British usage.
|-- valign="top"
| spyder || spider || For a two-seat convertible car. Both forms can occur in the United States, though the British spelling is preferred in Europe, particularly the UK and Ireland.
|-- valign="top"
|storey || story || Level of a building. Note also the differing plural, ''storeys'' vs ''stories'' respectively.
|-- valign="top"
|sulphur || sulfur || The American spelling is the international standard in the sciences and prevails in Canada and Australia; many British scientists use the British spelling and it is still actively taught in British schools. Older New Zealanders and some younger use ''sulphur'', but ''sulfur'' now prevails in the young because of school books.
|-- valign="top"
|tyre || tire || Wheel rubber part. Canada as U.S. ''Tire'' is the older spelling, but both were used in the 15th and 16th centuries (for a metal tire); ''tire'' became the settled spelling in the 17th century but ''tyre'' was revived in Britain in the 19th century for pneumatic tyres, possibly because it was used in some patent documents, though many continued to use ''tire'' for the iron variety. [[The Times]] newspaper was still using ''tire'' as late as 1905.
|-- valign="top"
|vice || vise || The [[vise (tool)|two-jaw tool]]. Americans (and Canadians) retain a medieval distinction between ''vise'' (the tool) and ''vice'' (the sin and the Latin prefix meaning "deputy"), both of which are ''vice'' in Britain (and New Zealand, Australia).
|-- valign="top"
|yoghurt, yogurt || yogurt || ''Yoghurt'' is a minor variant in the U.S., as ''yoghourt'' is in Britain. Although Oxford Dictionaries have always preferred ''yogurt'', in current British usage ''yoghurt'' seems to be preferred. In Canada ''yogurt'' prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford favouring ''yogourt''<!--sic-->. Australia and New Zealand as Britain. Whatever the spelling, the word has different pronunciations in Britain {{IPA|/jɒ-/}} and the U.S. {{IPA|/joʊ-/}}.
|}

==See also ==
*[[List of British words not widely used in the United States]]
*[[List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom]]
*[[List of words having different meanings in British and American English]]
*[[American and British English pronunciation differences]]
*[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]

== Notes ==
<references />

== References ==

* {{cite book
| last = Peters
| first = Pam
| year = 2004
| title = The Cambridge Guide to English Usage
| location = Cambridge
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| id = ISBN 052162181X
}}

* ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 20 vols. (1989) Oxford University Press.
* ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'' (1961; repr. 2002) Merriam-Webster, Inc.
*Fowler, Henry; Winchester, Simon (introduction) (2003 reprint). ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford Language Classics Series)''. Oxford Press. ISBN 0198605064.
*Burchfield, R. W. (Editor); Fowler, H. W. (1996). ''The New Fowler's Modern English Usage''. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198691262.
*Nicholson, Margaret; (1957). "A Dictionary of American-English Usage Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage". Signet, by arrangement with Oxford University Press.
[[Category:American and British English differences]]
* [http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/ Chicago Manual of Style]
* [http://www.ritter.org.uk/ Hart's Rules]

Revision as of 18:11, 5 August 2006


My name is Brian Hass; and, I am a resident of southeastern part of the state of South Dakota in the United States. My interests include astronomy, genealogy, history, science, science fiction, and space exploration.

Other Wiki User Pages

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_and_British_English_spelling_differences&oldid=67857487"