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

In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardised. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionary. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Many of the now characteristic American English spellings were introduced, although often not created, by Noah Webster in his An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828.

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

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

Spelling and pronunciation In a few cases, lexeme has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation.

As well as the miscellaneous cases listed in the following table, the past tenses of some List of English irregular verbs differ in both spelling and prounciation, as with smelt (only UK) versus smelled (mainly U.S.): see American and British English differences#Verb morphology.

{|class="wikitable sortable"! UK !! US !! class="unsortable" ] || wikt:airplane || Aeroplane with three syllables is standard in the U.K. and was first coined in 1866 oxford English dictionary referring both to the vehicle and the wings' function. The prefix 'aero' is also preferred for related terms such as aerodrome, aeronautics. Airplane, with two syllables was first coined in 1906 oxford English dictionary is the primary U.S. spelling, used very rarely in the U.K. but is understood.] || wikt:aluminum || Aluminium is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC). The American spelling is nonetheless used by many American scientists. Humphry Davy, the element's discoverer, proposed both "alumium", and later "aluminum". The name "aluminium" was finally adopted to conform with the -ium ending of many elements. History & Etymology of Aluminium Canada as U.S. Australia as U.K.|-- valign="top"| wikt:arse || wikt:ass || In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey" is ass in both. Both forms are found in Canada and Australia.] || wikt:balmy || In sense "slightly insane", "crazy", "foolish",Peters, p. 63. which has limited currency in American English. Both forms originated in 19th century England from other senses: barmy meant "frothing of beer"; balmy means "warm and soft of weather".|-- valign="top"| wikt:behove || wikt:behoove || Canada has both. British form is more etymologically conservative (Old English behōfian → Middle English behove(n)).

] || wikt:boogeyman || The spoken form wikt:bogeyman in the U.K. suggests bogeys, snot or dried nasal mucus, whereas the U.S. form wikt:boogeyman is reminiscent of 1970 disco dancing to the U.K. ear.

] || wikt:carburetor || In the American pronunciation, the third syllable (et) is pronounced "ay". Canada as U.S.|-- valign="top"| wikt:charivari || wikt:shivaree, wikt:charivari || In the U.S., where both terms are mainly regional,The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. charivari is however pronounced usually as shivaree, which is also found in Canada and Cornwall,OED, shivaree and is a corruption of the French word.] || wikt:coupe || for a 2-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is coupé in both; unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always coupe. In the U.S., the E is accented when used as a foreign word.|-- valign="top"| wikt:eyrie || wikt:aerie || Rhyme with weary and hairy respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in the U.S.|-- valign="top"| wikt:fillet || wikt:fillet, wikt:filet || Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way in the U.S. even if the word is spelled fillet. Canada as U.S. Australia as UK.|-- valign="top"| wikt:furore || wikt:furor || Furore is a late 18th-century Italian loan that replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the following century,Oxford English Dictionary, furore. and is usually pronounced with a voiced e. Canada as U.S. Australia has both.|-- valign="top"| wikt:haulier || wikt:hauler || Haulage contractor; haulier is the older spelling.Peters, p. 242 In Canada, hauler prevails.|-- valign="top"| wikt:moustache || wikt:mustache || In the U.S., according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, the British spelling is an also-ran, but the second-syllable stress pronunciation is a common variant.|-- valign="top"| wikt:mum(my) || wikt:mom(my) || Mother. Mom is sporadically regionally found in the UK (West Midlands English); some British dialects have mam,Oxford English Dictionary, mom and mam and this is often used in Irish and Welsh English. In the U.S. region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British pronunciation of mum is often retained, while it is still spelt mom. Canada has mom and mum; in Australia, mum is the word.] || wikt:persnickety || Persnickety is a late 19th-century North American alteration of the Scottish word pernickety.Oxford English Dictionary, persnickety|-- valign="top"| wikt:quin || wikt:quint || Abbreviations of quintuplet.] || wikt:scalawag || In the U.S. (where the word originated, as scalawag)Peters, p. 487 scallywag is not unknown.In Webster's New World College Dictionary, scalawag is lemmatised without alternative, while scallawag and scallywag are defined by cross-reference to it; all of them are marked as originally American.|-- valign="top"| wikt:snigger || wikt:snicker || According to major dictionaries, both forms can occur in both dialects, although snigger can cause offense in the U.S. due to the similarity to wikt:nigger. In Canada snigger can have malicious connotations; in Australia snigger prevails, as in the UK.Peters, p. 505|-- valign="top"| wikt:speciality || wikt:specialty || In British English the standard usage is speciality, but specialty occurs in the field of medicine,See, for example, the November 2006 British Medical Association document entitled Selection for Specialty Training and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, specialty prevails; in Australia both are current.Peters, p. 510.] || wikt:tidbit || Canada as U.S. |}

Latin-derived spellings -our / -or Most words ending in unstressed -our in the United Kingdom (e.g. wikt:colour, wikt:flavour, wikt:honour, wikt:armour) end in -or in the U.S. (e.g. wikt:color, wikt:flavor, wikt:honor, wikt:armor).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.Webster's Third, p. 24a. After the Norman Conquest, the termination became -our in Anglo-Norman language in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in -or.Oxford English Dictionary, colour, color. The -our ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but also applied to earlier French borrowings.Webster's Third, p. 24a. 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 (garden)#Arbour in sense "shelter"; senses "tree" and "tool" are always arbor, a false cognate of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used for words of Latin origin and -our for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated -or only and others -our only.Peters, p. 397.

As early as 1755 Dr Johnson settled on -our, while Webster's 1828 dictionary featured only -or and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the U.S. By contrast, Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform and for the most part simply recorded what he found. For example, documents from the Old Bailey, the foremost court in London, support the view of the OED that by the 17th century "wikt: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, "wikt: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 wikt:honour. " Examples such as wikt:color, wikt:flavor, wikt:behavior, wikt:harbor, or wikt: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,Oxford English Dictionary, honour, honor. and Honor still is, in the UK, the normal spelling for a person's name.

Derivatives and inflected forms. In derivatives and inflected forms of the -our/or words, in British usage the u is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (wikt:neighbourhood, wikt:humourless, wikt:savoury) and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been naturalised (wikt:favourite, wikt:honourable, wikt:behaviourism); before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the u can be dropped (wikt:honorific, wikt:honorist, wikt:vigorous, wikt:humorous, wikt:laborious, wikt:invigorate), can be either dropped or retained (colo(u)ration, colo(u)rise), or can be retained (wikt:colourist).Webster's Third, p. 24a. In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all environments (wikt:favorite, Basic taste#Savouriness, etc.) since the u is absent to begin with.

Exceptions. American usage in most cases retains the u in the word wikt:glamour, which comes from Scots, not Latin or French; wikt:saviour is a common variant of wikt:savior in the U.S.; the name of the herb savory (herb) is thus spelled everywhere (although the probably related adjective savo(u)ry does have a u in the UK). The British spelling is very common for "honour" (and "favour") on wedding invitations in the United States.

Commonwealth usage. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. In Canada -or endings are not uncommon, particularly in the Prairie Provinces, though they are rarer in Eastern Canada.Peters, p. 397. In Australia, -or terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions,Peters, p. 397. usually in local and regional newspapers, though -our is almost universal. The name of the Australian Labor Party is a remnant of this trend, having been founded in 1891.

-re / -er In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by -re, with the -re unstressed and pronounced . Most of these words have the ending -er in the U.S. The difference is most common for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings accoutre(ment), goitre, litre, lustre, mitre, nitre, reconnoitre, saltpetre, spectre, centre, titre; calibre, fibre, sabre, and sombre all have -er in American spelling. The ending -cre, as in acre, lucre, massacre, mediocre, is preserved in American English, to indicate the c is pronounced rather than . After other consonants, there are not many -re endings even in British English: louver, manoeuvre after -v-; meagre, ogre after -g-; euchre, ochre, sepulchre after -ch-. In the U.S., ogre and euchre are standard; manoeuvre and sepulchre are usually maneuver and sepulcher; and the other -re forms listed are variants of the equivalent -er form.

The e preceding the r is retained in U.S. derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, fibers, reconnoitered, centering, which are, naturally, fibres, reconnoitred and centring respectively in British usage. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, central, fibrous, spectral. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an -re British spelling: for example, entry derives from enter, which has not been spelled entre for centuries.

The difference relates only to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix for agentive (reader, winner) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One consequence is the British distinction of meter for a measuring instrument from metre for metre. However, while Meter (poetry) is often -re, pentameter, hexameter, etc. are always -er.

Exceptions. Many other words have -er in British English. These include Germanic words like anger, mother, timber, water,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), and Romance words like danger, quarter, river. Some -er words, like many -re words, have a cognate in Modern French spelled with -re: among these are chapter, December, diameter, disaster, enter, letter, member, minister, monster, number, oyster, powder, proper, sober, tender.

Theater is the prevailing American spelling and is used by America's national theater as well as major American newspapers such as the New York Times (theater section) to refer to both the dramatic arts as well as to buildings where performances take place; yet theatre is also current, witness Broadway theatre and The New Yorker. In American English, theatre is particularly common in the two aforementioned uses. Americans also often make the distinction of using theater in reference to cinema, (e.g. movie theater) while using theatre when speaking of stage productions. Some places in the United States have "Centre" in their names (i.e. Rockville Centre, New York), named both before and after spelling reform, and there are very occasional uses of "Center" in England ).

More recent French loanwords retain an -re spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used ( rather than ), as with double-entendre, genre, or oeuvre. However, the unstressed pronunciation of an -er ending is used more or less frequently with some words, including cadre, macabre, maître d', Notre Dame, piastre, and timbre.

Commonwealth usage.Peters, p. 461. The -re endings are standard throughout the Commonwealth. The -er spellings are recognised, as minor variants, only in Canada.

-ce / -se Nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English and British English both retain the noun/verb distinction in advice / advise and device / devise, but American English has lost the same distinction with licence / license and practice / practise that British spelling retains. American English uses practice and license for both meanings. Also, American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for defense and offense, which are usually defence and offence in British English; similarly there are the American pretense and British pretence; but derivatives such as defensive, offensive, and pretension are always thus spelled in both systems.

Commonwealth usage. Canadian English generally follows British usage for defence and offence and mostly for licence/license as well, although licence is sometimes used for the verb; both pretence and pretense are found, as are practice and practise for both noun and verb. Rest of the Commonwealth as UK.

-xion / -ction The spellings connection, inflection, deflection, reflection are now somewhat rare in everyday British usage, but are not known at all in the U.S: the more common connection, inflection, deflection, reflection have almost become the standard internationally. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the older spellings are more etymologically conservative, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root -xio. The U.S. usage derives from Noah Webster who discarded -xion in favour of -ction for analogy with such verbs as connect.1989 Oxford English Dictionary:connexion, connection.

Connexion has found preference again amongst recent British government initiatives such as Connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until the early 1980s, The Times of London also used connexion as part of its house style. It is still used in legal texts and British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling connexion to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons.

In both forms, complexion (which comes from the stem complex) is standard and complection is not.{{Citation | first = | last = | author-link = | first2 = | last2 = | author2-link = | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor2-last = | editor2-first = | contribution = | contribution-url = | title =The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:complection | year =2000 | pages = | place =New York | publisher =Houghton Mifflin | url =http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/sitesearch?FILTER=col61&query=complection&x=0&y=0 | doi = | accessdate = 2007-05-12--> However, the adjective ''complected'' (as in "dark complected"), although sometimes objected to, can be used as an alternative to ''complexioned'' in the U.S.,{{Citation | first = | last = | author-link = | first2 = | last2 = | author2-link = | editor-last = | editor-first = | | editor2-first = | contribution = | contribution-url = | title =The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:complected | year =2000 | pages = | place =New York | publisher =Houghton Mifflin | url =http://www.bartleby.com/61/86/C0528600.html | doi = | accessdate = 2007-05-12--> but is quite unknown in this sense in the UK, although there is an extremely rare usage to mean ''complicated'' (''OED''). Note, however, that ''crucifiction'' is simply an error in either form of English; ''[crucifixion'' is the correct spelling.

Greek-derived spellings -ise / -ize American spelling accepts only -ize endings in most cases, such as organize, recognize, and realize. British usage accepts both -ize and the more French-looking -ise (organise, recognise, realise). However, the -ize spelling is now rarely used in the UK in the mass media and newspapers, and is hence often incorrectly regarded as an Americanism,{{cite web] and the Oxford English Dictionary, which until recently did not list the -ise form of many individual words, even as an alternative. Indeed, it firmly deprecates this usage, stating, "he suffix…, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Gr -ιζειν, L -izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling in -iser should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic."Oxford English Dictionary, -ize. Noah Webster rejected -ise for the same reasons.Hargraves, p. 22.

But the OED might be fighting a losing battle. The -ise form is used often, but seemingly not always by the British government and is more prevalent in common usage within the UK today; the ratio between -ise and -ize stands at 3:2 in the British National Corpus.Peters, p. 298 The Oxford spelling (which can be indicated by the registered IANA language tag en-GB-oed), and thus -ize, is used in many British-based academic publications, such as Nature (journal), the Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement. In Australia and New Zealand -ise spellings strongly prevail; the Australian Macquarie Dictionary, among other sources, gives the -ise spelling first. The -ise form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie Dictionary. Conversely, Canadian usage is essentially like American, although -ise is occasionally found in Canada. Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organisations.

The same pattern applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization.

Note that not all spellings are interchangeable; some verbs take the -z- form exclusively, for instance capsize, seize (except in the legal phrase to be seised of/to stand seised to), size and prize (only in the "appraise" sense), whereas others take only -s-: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, incise, excise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, exercise, franchise, improvise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, and televise. Finally, the verb prise (meaning to force or lever) is spelled prize in the U.S. and prise everywhere else, including Canada,Peters, p. 441 although in North American English pry (a back-formation from or alteration of prise) is often used in its place.Peters, p. 446.

-yse / -yze The distribution of -yse and -yze endings, as in analyse/analyze, is different: the former is British, the latter American. Thus, UK analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse, paralyse; U.S. analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze, paralyze. However, analyse was commonly spelled analyze from the first — a spelling also accepted by Samuel Johnson; the word, which came probably from French analyser, on Greek analogy would have been analysize, from French analysiser, from which analyser was formed by haplology.Oxford English Dictionary, analyse, analyze In Canada, -yze prevails; in Australia, -yse stands alone. Unlike -ise/-ize, none of the two endings has any resemblance to the Greek original ending. The Greek verb from which the word λύσις (lysis) (and thus all its compound words) derives, is λύειν (lyein).

-ogue / -og Some words of Greek origin, a few of which derive from Greek λόγος, can end either in -ogue or in -og: analog(ue), catalog(ue), dialog(ue), demagog(ue), pedagog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), etc. In the UK (and generally in the Commonwealth), the -ogue endings are the standard. In the U.S., catalog has a slight edge over catalogueBoth the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary have catalog as the main headword and catalogue as an equal variant. (note the inflected forms, cataloged and cataloging vs. catalogued and cataloguing); analog is standard for the adjective, but both analogue and analog are current for the noun; in all other cases the -gue endings strongly prevail,Peters, p. 236. except for such expressions as dialog box in computing, which are also used in the UK. Finally, in Canada and Australia as well as the U.S. analog has currency as a technical termPeters, p. 36. (e.g. in electronics, as in "analog computer" and many video game consoles might have an analog stick).

Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ) Many words are written with ae or oe in British English, but a single e in American English. The sound in question is or (or unstressed ). Examples (with non-American letter in bold): anemia, anesthesia, cesium, diarrhea, gynecology, hemophilia, leukemia, esophagus, estrogen, orthopedic, pediatric. Words where British usage varies include encyclopedia, fetus (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, medieval. In American usage, aesthetics and archaeology prevail over esthetics and archeology,Peters, p. 20. while oenology is a minor variant of enology. In more modern legislative enactments, Subpena is gaining currency over Subpoena.See, e.g., California Code of Civil Procedure § 1985.5 and the earlier-enacted provisions in the same code.

The History of the Greek language#Ancient Greek dialects diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliteration into Latin as Æ and OE ligature. The ligature (typography)s 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.Webster's Third, p. 23a. In others, especially names, it is retained in all varieties: for example, Phoenix (mythology), Caesar (disambiguation), Oedipus. There is no reduction of Latin declension#First declension (e.g. larv'ae); nor where the digraph / does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, maelstrom, toe. British fixed-wing aircraft 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,Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, airplane. 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, the spellings with just e are increasingly used.Peters, p. 20, p. 389. Manoeuvre is the only spelling in Australia and the most common one in Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also sometimes found.Peters, p. 338.

Internationally, the American spelling is closer to the way most languages spell such words; for instance, almost all Romance languages (which tend to have more phonemic spelling) lack the ae and oe spellings (a notable exception is French language), as do Swedish language, Polish language, and others, while Dutch language uses them ("ae" is rare and "oe" is the normal representation of the sound (while written "u" represents either the sound y or in IPA)). Danish language and Norwegian Language retain the original ligatures. German language, 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 language 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).Peters, p. 258

Doubled consonants Doubled in British English The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Generally this occurs only when the word's final syllable ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, and the syllable is stressed; but in British English, a final -l is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed.Peters, p. 309. This exception is no longer usual in American English, apparently due to Noah Webster.Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, traveller, traveler. The -ll- spellings are nonetheless still regarded as acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.

Among consonants other than l, practice varies for some words, such as where the final syllable has secondary stress or an unreduced vowel. In the U.S., the spellings kidnaped and worshiped, introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s, are common alongside kidnapped and worshipped, the only standard British spellings.

Miscellaneous:

Doubled in American English Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans usually use a double l. These includewil(l)ful, skil(l)ful, thral(l)dom, appal(l), fulfil(l), fulfil(l)ment, enrol(l)ment, instal(l)ment. In the UK ll is used occasionally in distil(l), instil(l), enrol(l) and enthral(l)ment, and often in enthral(l). Former spellings instal, fulness, and dulness are now rare.Peters, p. 283 The Scottish tolbooth is cognate with toll booth but has a specific distinct sense.

The preceding words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, fill, roll, stall, still. Comparable cases where a single l occurs in American English include full→useful, handful, etc.; all→almighty, altogether, etc.; null→annul, annulment; till→until; well→welfare, welcome; toll→extol; spell→dispel; chill→chilblain; and others where the connection is less transparent. Note that British fulfil and American fulfill are never fullfill or fullfil.

Dr Johnson wavered on this issue; his dictionary of 1755 lemmatises distil and instill, downhil and uphill.Peters, p. 501.

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

Different spellings, different connotations



| last =Howarth | first =Lynne C | authorlink = | coauthors = and others | title ="Executive summary" from review of "International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources" | work = | publisher =American Library Association | date =[1999-06-14 | url =http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/aacrer/tf-harm21.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate =2007-04-30 --> For this limited application, these spellings are used in both the U.S. and the Commonwealth.









Compare also meter, for which an older English written distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings once existed, but was obviated in the regularisation of American spellings.

Acronyms and abbreviations Proper nouns formed as acronym#Nomenclatures are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, NASA or UNICEF. This does not apply to most initialisms, such as United States of America or HTML; though it is occasionally done for some, such as PC (Policing in the United Kingdom).See for example

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

Miscellaneous spelling differences {|class="wikitable sortable"! UK !! U.S. !! class="unsortable"|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 buildi

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

In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardised. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionary. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Many of the now characteristic American English spellings were introduced, although often not created, by Noah Webster in his An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828.

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

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

Spelling and pronunciation In a few cases, lexeme has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation.

As well as the miscellaneous cases listed in the following table, the past tenses of some List of English irregular verbs differ in both spelling and prounciation, as with smelt (only UK) versus smelled (mainly U.S.): see American and British English differences#Verb morphology.

{|class="wikitable sortable"! UK !! US !! class="unsortable" ] || wikt:airplane || Aeroplane with three syllables is standard in the U.K. and was first coined in 1866 oxford English dictionary referring both to the vehicle and the wings' function. The prefix 'aero' is also preferred for related terms such as aerodrome, aeronautics. Airplane, with two syllables was first coined in 1906 oxford English dictionary is the primary U.S. spelling, used very rarely in the U.K. but is understood.] || wikt:aluminum || Aluminium is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC). The American spelling is nonetheless used by many American scientists. Humphry Davy, the element's discoverer, proposed both "alumium", and later "aluminum". The name "aluminium" was finally adopted to conform with the -ium ending of many elements. History & Etymology of Aluminium Canada as U.S. Australia as U.K.|-- valign="top"| wikt:arse || wikt:ass || In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey" is ass in both. Both forms are found in Canada and Australia.] || wikt:balmy || In sense "slightly insane", "crazy", "foolish",Peters, p. 63. which has limited currency in American English. Both forms originated in 19th century England from other senses: barmy meant "frothing of beer"; balmy means "warm and soft of weather".|-- valign="top"| wikt:behove || wikt:behoove || Canada has both. British form is more etymologically conservative (Old English behōfian → Middle English behove(n)).

] || wikt:boogeyman || The spoken form wikt:bogeyman in the U.K. suggests bogeys, snot or dried nasal mucus, whereas the U.S. form wikt:boogeyman is reminiscent of 1970 disco dancing to the U.K. ear.

] || wikt:carburetor || In the American pronunciation, the third syllable (et) is pronounced "ay". Canada as U.S.|-- valign="top"| wikt:charivari || wikt:shivaree, wikt:charivari || In the U.S., where both terms are mainly regional,The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. charivari is however pronounced usually as shivaree, which is also found in Canada and Cornwall,OED, shivaree and is a corruption of the French word.] || wikt:coupe || for a 2-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is coupé in both; unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always coupe. In the U.S., the E is accented when used as a foreign word.|-- valign="top"| wikt:eyrie || wikt:aerie || Rhyme with weary and hairy respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in the U.S.|-- valign="top"| wikt:fillet || wikt:fillet, wikt:filet || Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way in the U.S. even if the word is spelled fillet. Canada as U.S. Australia as UK.|-- valign="top"| wikt:furore || wikt:furor || Furore is a late 18th-century Italian loan that replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the following century,Oxford English Dictionary, furore. and is usually pronounced with a voiced e. Canada as U.S. Australia has both.|-- valign="top"| wikt:haulier || wikt:hauler || Haulage contractor; haulier is the older spelling.Peters, p. 242 In Canada, hauler prevails.|-- valign="top"| wikt:moustache || wikt:mustache || In the U.S., according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, the British spelling is an also-ran, but the second-syllable stress pronunciation is a common variant.|-- valign="top"| wikt:mum(my) || wikt:mom(my) || Mother. Mom is sporadically regionally found in the UK (West Midlands English); some British dialects have mam,Oxford English Dictionary, mom and mam and this is often used in Irish and Welsh English. In the U.S. region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British pronunciation of mum is often retained, while it is still spelt mom. Canada has mom and mum; in Australia, mum is the word.] || wikt:persnickety || Persnickety is a late 19th-century North American alteration of the Scottish word pernickety.Oxford English Dictionary, persnickety|-- valign="top"| wikt:quin || wikt:quint || Abbreviations of quintuplet.] || wikt:scalawag || In the U.S. (where the word originated, as scalawag)Peters, p. 487 scallywag is not unknown.In Webster's New World College Dictionary, scalawag is lemmatised without alternative, while scallawag and scallywag are defined by cross-reference to it; all of them are marked as originally American.|-- valign="top"| wikt:snigger || wikt:snicker || According to major dictionaries, both forms can occur in both dialects, although snigger can cause offense in the U.S. due to the similarity to wikt:nigger. In Canada snigger can have malicious connotations; in Australia snigger prevails, as in the UK.Peters, p. 505|-- valign="top"| wikt:speciality || wikt:specialty || In British English the standard usage is speciality, but specialty occurs in the field of medicine,See, for example, the November 2006 British Medical Association document entitled Selection for Specialty Training and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, specialty prevails; in Australia both are current.Peters, p. 510.] || wikt:tidbit || Canada as U.S. |}

Latin-derived spellings -our / -or Most words ending in unstressed -our in the United Kingdom (e.g. wikt:colour, wikt:flavour, wikt:honour, wikt:armour) end in -or in the U.S. (e.g. wikt:color, wikt:flavor, wikt:honor, wikt:armor).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.Webster's Third, p. 24a. After the Norman Conquest, the termination became -our in Anglo-Norman language in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in -or.Oxford English Dictionary, colour, color. The -our ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but also applied to earlier French borrowings.Webster's Third, p. 24a. 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 (garden)#Arbour in sense "shelter"; senses "tree" and "tool" are always arbor, a false cognate of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used for words of Latin origin and -our for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated -or only and others -our only.Peters, p. 397.

As early as 1755 Dr Johnson settled on -our, while Webster's 1828 dictionary featured only -or and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the U.S. By contrast, Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform and for the most part simply recorded what he found. For example, documents from the Old Bailey, the foremost court in London, support the view of the OED that by the 17th century "wikt: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, "wikt: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 wikt:honour. " Examples such as wikt:color, wikt:flavor, wikt:behavior, wikt:harbor, or wikt: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,Oxford English Dictionary, honour, honor. and Honor still is, in the UK, the normal spelling for a person's name.

Derivatives and inflected forms. In derivatives and inflected forms of the -our/or words, in British usage the u is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (wikt:neighbourhood, wikt:humourless, wikt:savoury) and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been naturalised (wikt:favourite, wikt:honourable, wikt:behaviourism); before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the u can be dropped (wikt:honorific, wikt:honorist, wikt:vigorous, wikt:humorous, wikt:laborious, wikt:invigorate), can be either dropped or retained (colo(u)ration, colo(u)rise), or can be retained (wikt:colourist).Webster's Third, p. 24a. In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all environments (wikt:favorite, Basic taste#Savouriness, etc.) since the u is absent to begin with.

Exceptions. American usage in most cases retains the u in the word wikt:glamour, which comes from Scots, not Latin or French; wikt:saviour is a common variant of wikt:savior in the U.S.; the name of the herb savory (herb) is thus spelled everywhere (although the probably related adjective savo(u)ry does have a u in the UK). The British spelling is very common for "honour" (and "favour") on wedding invitations in the United States.

Commonwealth usage. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. In Canada -or endings are not uncommon, particularly in the Prairie Provinces, though they are rarer in Eastern Canada.Peters, p. 397. In Australia, -or terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions,Peters, p. 397. usually in local and regional newspapers, though -our is almost universal. The name of the Australian Labor Party is a remnant of this trend, having been founded in 1891.

-re / -er In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by -re, with the -re unstressed and pronounced . Most of these words have the ending -er in the U.S. The difference is most common for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings accoutre(ment), goitre, litre, lustre, mitre, nitre, reconnoitre, saltpetre, spectre, centre, titre; calibre, fibre, sabre, and sombre all have -er in American spelling. The ending -cre, as in acre, lucre, massacre, mediocre, is preserved in American English, to indicate the c is pronounced rather than . After other consonants, there are not many -re endings even in British English: louver, manoeuvre after -v-; meagre, ogre after -g-; euchre, ochre, sepulchre after -ch-. In the U.S., ogre and euchre are standard; manoeuvre and sepulchre are usually maneuver and sepulcher; and the other -re forms listed are variants of the equivalent -er form.

The e preceding the r is retained in U.S. derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, fibers, reconnoitered, centering, which are, naturally, fibres, reconnoitred and centring respectively in British usage. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, central, fibrous, spectral. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an -re British spelling: for example, entry derives from enter, which has not been spelled entre for centuries.

The difference relates only to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix for agentive (reader, winner) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One consequence is the British distinction of meter for a measuring instrument from metre for metre. However, while Meter (poetry) is often -re, pentameter, hexameter, etc. are always -er.

Exceptions. Many other words have -er in British English. These include Germanic words like anger, mother, timber, water,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), and Romance words like danger, quarter, river. Some -er words, like many -re words, have a cognate in Modern French spelled with -re: among these are chapter, December, diameter, disaster, enter, letter, member, minister, monster, number, oyster, powder, proper, sober, tender.

Theater is the prevailing American spelling and is used by America's national theater as well as major American newspapers such as the New York Times (theater section) to refer to both the dramatic arts as well as to buildings where performances take place; yet theatre is also current, witness Broadway theatre and The New Yorker. In American English, theatre is particularly common in the two aforementioned uses. Americans also often make the distinction of using theater in reference to cinema, (e.g. movie theater) while using theatre when speaking of stage productions. Some places in the United States have "Centre" in their names (i.e. Rockville Centre, New York), named both before and after spelling reform, and there are very occasional uses of "Center" in England ).

More recent French loanwords retain an -re spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used ( rather than ), as with double-entendre, genre, or oeuvre. However, the unstressed pronunciation of an -er ending is used more or less frequently with some words, including cadre, macabre, maître d', Notre Dame, piastre, and timbre.

Commonwealth usage.Peters, p. 461. The -re endings are standard throughout the Commonwealth. The -er spellings are recognised, as minor variants, only in Canada.

-ce / -se Nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English and British English both retain the noun/verb distinction in advice / advise and device / devise, but American English has lost the same distinction with licence / license and practice / practise that British spelling retains. American English uses practice and license for both meanings. Also, American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for defense and offense, which are usually defence and offence in British English; similarly there are the American pretense and British pretence; but derivatives such as defensive, offensive, and pretension are always thus spelled in both systems.

Commonwealth usage. Canadian English generally follows British usage for defence and offence and mostly for licence/license as well, although licence is sometimes used for the verb; both pretence and pretense are found, as are practice and practise for both noun and verb. Rest of the Commonwealth as UK.

-xion / -ction The spellings connection, inflection, deflection, reflection are now somewhat rare in everyday British usage, but are not known at all in the U.S: the more common connection, inflection, deflection, reflection have almost become the standard internationally. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the older spellings are more etymologically conservative, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root -xio. The U.S. usage derives from Noah Webster who discarded -xion in favour of -ction for analogy with such verbs as connect.1989 Oxford English Dictionary:connexion, connection.

Connexion has found preference again amongst recent British government initiatives such as Connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until the early 1980s, The Times of London also used connexion as part of its house style. It is still used in legal texts and British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling connexion to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons.

In both forms, complexion (which comes from the stem complex) is standard and complection is not.{{Citation | first = | last = | author-link = | first2 = | last2 = | author2-link = | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor2-last = | editor2-first = | contribution = | contribution-url = | title =The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:complection | year =2000 | pages = | place =New York | publisher =Houghton Mifflin | url =http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/sitesearch?FILTER=col61&query=complection&x=0&y=0 | doi = | accessdate = 2007-05-12--> However, the adjective ''complected'' (as in "dark complected"), although sometimes objected to, can be used as an alternative to ''complexioned'' in the U.S.,{{Citation | first = | last = | author-link = | first2 = | last2 = | author2-link = | editor-last = | editor-first = | | editor2-first = | contribution = | contribution-url = | title =The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:complected | year =2000 | pages = | place =New York | publisher =Houghton Mifflin | url =http://www.bartleby.com/61/86/C0528600.html | doi = | accessdate = 2007-05-12--> but is quite unknown in this sense in the UK, although there is an extremely rare usage to mean ''complicated'' (''OED''). Note, however, that ''crucifiction'' is simply an error in either form of English; ''[crucifixion'' is the correct spelling.

Greek-derived spellings -ise / -ize American spelling accepts only -ize endings in most cases, such as organize, recognize, and realize. British usage accepts both -ize and the more French-looking -ise (organise, recognise, realise). However, the -ize spelling is now rarely used in the UK in the mass media and newspapers, and is hence often incorrectly regarded as an Americanism,{{cite web] and the Oxford English Dictionary, which until recently did not list the -ise form of many individual words, even as an alternative. Indeed, it firmly deprecates this usage, stating, "he suffix…, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Gr -ιζειν, L -izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling in -iser should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic."Oxford English Dictionary, -ize. Noah Webster rejected -ise for the same reasons.Hargraves, p. 22.

But the OED might be fighting a losing battle. The -ise form is used often, but seemingly not always by the British government and is more prevalent in common usage within the UK today; the ratio between -ise and -ize stands at 3:2 in the British National Corpus.Peters, p. 298 The Oxford spelling (which can be indicated by the registered IANA language tag en-GB-oed), and thus -ize, is used in many British-based academic publications, such as Nature (journal), the Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement. In Australia and New Zealand -ise spellings strongly prevail; the Australian Macquarie Dictionary, among other sources, gives the -ise spelling first. The -ise form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie Dictionary. Conversely, Canadian usage is essentially like American, although -ise is occasionally found in Canada. Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organisations.

The same pattern applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization.

Note that not all spellings are interchangeable; some verbs take the -z- form exclusively, for instance capsize, seize (except in the legal phrase to be seised of/to stand seised to), size and prize (only in the "appraise" sense), whereas others take only -s-: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, incise, excise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, exercise, franchise, improvise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, and televise. Finally, the verb prise (meaning to force or lever) is spelled prize in the U.S. and prise everywhere else, including Canada,Peters, p. 441 although in North American English pry (a back-formation from or alteration of prise) is often used in its place.Peters, p. 446.

-yse / -yze The distribution of -yse and -yze endings, as in analyse/analyze, is different: the former is British, the latter American. Thus, UK analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse, paralyse; U.S. analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze, paralyze. However, analyse was commonly spelled analyze from the first — a spelling also accepted by Samuel Johnson; the word, which came probably from French analyser, on Greek analogy would have been analysize, from French analysiser, from which analyser was formed by haplology.Oxford English Dictionary, analyse, analyze In Canada, -yze prevails; in Australia, -yse stands alone. Unlike -ise/-ize, none of the two endings has any resemblance to the Greek original ending. The Greek verb from which the word λύσις (lysis) (and thus all its compound words) derives, is λύειν (lyein).

-ogue / -og Some words of Greek origin, a few of which derive from Greek λόγος, can end either in -ogue or in -og: analog(ue), catalog(ue), dialog(ue), demagog(ue), pedagog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), etc. In the UK (and generally in the Commonwealth), the -ogue endings are the standard. In the U.S., catalog has a slight edge over catalogueBoth the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary have catalog as the main headword and catalogue as an equal variant. (note the inflected forms, cataloged and cataloging vs. catalogued and cataloguing); analog is standard for the adjective, but both analogue and analog are current for the noun; in all other cases the -gue endings strongly prevail,Peters, p. 236. except for such expressions as dialog box in computing, which are also used in the UK. Finally, in Canada and Australia as well as the U.S. analog has currency as a technical termPeters, p. 36. (e.g. in electronics, as in "analog computer" and many video game consoles might have an analog stick).

Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ) Many words are written with ae or oe in British English, but a single e in American English. The sound in question is or (or unstressed ). Examples (with non-American letter in bold): anemia, anesthesia, cesium, diarrhea, gynecology, hemophilia, leukemia, esophagus, estrogen, orthopedic, pediatric. Words where British usage varies include encyclopedia, fetus (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, medieval. In American usage, aesthetics and archaeology prevail over esthetics and archeology,Peters, p. 20. while oenology is a minor variant of enology. In more modern legislative enactments, Subpena is gaining currency over Subpoena.See, e.g., California Code of Civil Procedure § 1985.5 and the earlier-enacted provisions in the same code.

The History of the Greek language#Ancient Greek dialects diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliteration into Latin as Æ and OE ligature. The ligature (typography)s 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.Webster's Third, p. 23a. In others, especially names, it is retained in all varieties: for example, Phoenix (mythology), Caesar (disambiguation), Oedipus. There is no reduction of Latin declension#First declension (e.g. larv'ae); nor where the digraph / does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, maelstrom, toe. British fixed-wing aircraft 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,Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, airplane. 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, the spellings with just e are increasingly used.Peters, p. 20, p. 389. Manoeuvre is the only spelling in Australia and the most common one in Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also sometimes found.Peters, p. 338.

Internationally, the American spelling is closer to the way most languages spell such words; for instance, almost all Romance languages (which tend to have more phonemic spelling) lack the ae and oe spellings (a notable exception is French language), as do Swedish language, Polish language, and others, while Dutch language uses them ("ae" is rare and "oe" is the normal representation of the sound (while written "u" represents either the sound y or in IPA)). Danish language and Norwegian Language retain the original ligatures. German language, 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 language 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).Peters, p. 258

Doubled consonants Doubled in British English The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Generally this occurs only when the word's final syllable ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, and the syllable is stressed; but in British English, a final -l is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed.Peters, p. 309. This exception is no longer usual in American English, apparently due to Noah Webster.Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, traveller, traveler. The -ll- spellings are nonetheless still regarded as acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries.

Among consonants other than l, practice varies for some words, such as where the final syllable has secondary stress or an unreduced vowel. In the U.S., the spellings kidnaped and worshiped, introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s, are common alongside kidnapped and worshipped, the only standard British spellings.

Miscellaneous:

Doubled in American English Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans usually use a double l. These includewil(l)ful, skil(l)ful, thral(l)dom, appal(l), fulfil(l), fulfil(l)ment, enrol(l)ment, instal(l)ment. In the UK ll is used occasionally in distil(l), instil(l), enrol(l) and enthral(l)ment, and often in enthral(l). Former spellings instal, fulness, and dulness are now rare.Peters, p. 283 The Scottish tolbooth is cognate with toll booth but has a specific distinct sense.

The preceding words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, fill, roll, stall, still. Comparable cases where a single l occurs in American English include full→useful, handful, etc.; all→almighty, altogether, etc.; null→annul, annulment; till→until; well→welfare, welcome; toll→extol; spell→dispel; chill→chilblain; and others where the connection is less transparent. Note that British fulfil and American fulfill are never fullfill or fullfil.

Dr Johnson wavered on this issue; his dictionary of 1755 lemmatises distil and instill, downhil and uphill.Peters, p. 501.

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

Different spellings, different connotations



| last =Howarth | first =Lynne C | authorlink = | coauthors = and others | title ="Executive summary" from review of "International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources" | work = | publisher =American Library Association | date =[1999-06-14 | url =http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/aacrer/tf-harm21.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate =2007-04-30 --> For this limited application, these spellings are used in both the U.S. and the Commonwealth.









Compare also meter, for which an older English written distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings once existed, but was obviated in the regularisation of American spellings.

Acronyms and abbreviations Proper nouns formed as acronym#Nomenclatures are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, NASA or UNICEF. This does not apply to most initialisms, such as United States of America or HTML; though it is occasionally done for some, such as PC (Policing in the United Kingdom).See for example

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

Miscellaneous spelling differences {|class="wikitable sortable"! UK !! U.S. !! class="unsortable"|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 buildi

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Sharing research and ideas on Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and ELT (English Language Teaching) Differences between British, Canadian and American Spelling

Spelling differences between British and American English
In British English, words that end in -l preceded by a vowel usually double the -l when a suffix is added, while in American English the letter is not doubled.

British v American Spelling & Punctuation Differences
Musical English Lessons International, England. Established since 1993: This free website has been created especially for you by Bibi Baxter (International Author, Teacher ...

(American) English Spelling
... Notes on American English, University of Worlverhapton November 17, 2000; Jones, Susan, Spelling differences between American and British English ...

Spelling in English for ESL EFL TESOL TESL TEFL and TOEFL Students ...
Spelling for English Students and ESL EFL TESOL TEFL Classes - Differences Between British and American Spellings

American and British English differences - Wikinfo
This article outlines the differences between American English, the form of the English language spoken in the United States, and British English, which for the purposes of this ...

American and British English : Sussex Language Institute : University ...
For example, Australian English generally uses the same spelling as British English. Differences between British and American English. The most noticeable difference in the academic ...

Differences between British English and American words (vocabulary)
What are the differences between British English and American English? ... British vs. American English Vocab. British vs. American English Spelling

 

American And British English Spelling Differences



 
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