American and British English spelling
dierences
Spelling dierences redirects here. For other uses, see
Category:Language comparison.
Many of the dierences between American and British
British and American spellings around the world:
defence/labour, English is ocial
defence/labour, English is not ocial
Canadian defence/labour, but organize, etc.
defense/labor, English is ocial
defense/labor, English is not ocial
English date back to a time when spelling standards had
not yet developed. For instance, some spellings seen as
American today were once commonly used in Britain.
A British standard began to emerge following the 1755
publication of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the En-
glish Language, and an American standard started fol-
lowing the work of Noah Webster and in particular his An
American Dictionary of the English Language, rst pub-
lished in 1828.[1]
Websters eorts at spelling reform were somewhat eec-
tive in his native country, resulting in certain well-known
patterns of spelling dierences between the American
and British varieties of English. But English-language
spelling reform has rarely been adopted otherwise, and
thus modern English orthography varies somewhat be-
tween countries and is far from phonemic in any country.
1
1 Historical origins
Extract
from the Orthography section of the rst edition (1828)
of Webster's "ADEL", which popularized the American
standard spellings of -er (6); -or (7); the dropped -e (8);
-or (10); -se (11); and the doubling of consonants with a
sux (15).
In the early 18th century, English spelling was incon-
An 1814 American medical text showing British English spellings
that were still in use (tumours, colour, centres, etc.).
sistent. These dierences became noticeable after the
publishing of inuential dictionaries. Todays British
English spellings mostly follow Johnsons A Dictionary
of the English Language (1755), while many American
English spellings follow Websters An American Dic-
tionary of the English Language (ADEL, Websters
Dictionary, 1828).[2]
Webster was a proponent of English spelling reform for
reasons both philological and nationalistic. In A Com-
panion to the American Revolution (2008), John Algeo
notes: it is often assumed that characteristically Amer-
ican spellings were invented by Noah Webster. He was
very inuential in popularizing certain spellings in Amer-
ica, but he did not originate them. Rather [] he chose
already existing options such as center, color and check for
the simplicity, analogy or etymology.[3] William Shake-
2 2 LATIN-DERIVED SPELLINGS
speare's rst folios, for example, used spellings like center
and color as much as centre and colour.[4][5] Webster did
attempt to introduce some reformed spellings, as did the
Simplied Spelling Board in the early 20th century, but
most were not adopted. In Britain, the inuence of those
who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of
words proved to be decisive. Later spelling adjustments
in the United Kingdom had little eect on todays Amer-
ican spellings and vice versa.
For the most part, the spelling systems of most
Commonwealth countries and Ireland closely resem-
ble the British system. In Canada, the spelling sys-
tem can be said to follow both British and Ameri-
can forms,[6] and Canadians are somewhat more tol-
erant of foreign spellings when compared with other
English-speaking nationalities.[7] Australian spelling has
also strayed slightly from British spelling, with some
American spellings incorporated as standard.[8] New
Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling, ex-
cept in the word ord (instead of fjord). There is also
an increasing use of macrons in words that originated in
Mori and an unambiguous preference for -ise endings
(see below).
2 Latin-derived spellings
2.1 -our, -or
Most words ending in an unstressed -our in British En-
glish (e.g., colour, avour, behaviour, harbour, honour,
humour, labour, neighbour, rumour, splendour) end in -
or in American English (color, avor, behavior, harbor,
honor, humor, labor, neighbor, rumor, splendor). Wher-
ever the vowel is unreduced in pronunciation, e.g.,
contour, velour, paramour and troubadour the spelling is
the same everywhere.
Most words of this kind came from Latin, where the end-
ing was spelled -or. They were rst adopted into English
from early Old French, and the ending was spelled -or or
-ur.[9] After the Norman conquest of England, the end-
ing became -our to match the Old French spelling.[10]
The -our ending was not only used in new English bor-
rowings, but was also applied to the earlier borrowings
that had used -or.[9] However, -or was still sometimes
found,[11] and the rst three folios of Shakespeare's plays
used both spellings before they were standardised to -our
in the Fourth Folio of 1685.[12] After the Renaissance,
new borrowings from Latin were taken up with their orig-
inal -or ending and many words once ending in -our
(for example, chancellour and governour) went back to
-or. Many words of the -our/or group do not have a
Latin counterpart; for example, armo(u)r, behavio(u)r,
harbo(u)r, neighbo(u)r; also arbo(u)r, meaning shelter,
though senses tree and tool are always arbor, a false In American usage, derivatives and inected forms are
cognate of the other word. Some 16th- and early 17th- built by simply adding the sux in all cases (for example,
century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used favorite, savory etc.) since the u is absent to begin with.
for words from Latin (e.g., color)[11] and -our for French
loans; but in many cases the etymology was not clear, and
therefore some scholars advocated -or only and others -
our only.[13]
Websters 1828 dictionary had only -or and is given much
of the credit for the adoption of this form in the United
States. By contrast, Johnsons 1755 dictionary used -
our for all words still so spelled in Britain (like colour),
but also for words where the u has since been dropped:
ambassadour, emperour, governour, perturbatour, infe-
riour, superiour; errour, horrour, mirrour, tenour, terrour,
tremour. Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate
of spelling reform, but chose the spelling best derived, as
he saw it, from among the variations in his sources. He
preferred French over Latin spellings because, as he put
it, the French generally supplied us.[14] English speak-
ers who moved to America took these preferences with
them, and H. L. Mencken notes that "honor appears in the
1776 Declaration of Independence, but it seems to have
got there rather by accident than by design. In Jeerson's
original draft it is spelled honour.[15] In Britain, ex-
amples of color, avor, behavior, harbor, and neighbor
rarely appear in Old Bailey court records from the 17th
and 18th centuries, whereas there are thousands of ex-
amples of their -our counterparts.[16] One notable excep-
tion is honor. Honor and honour were equally frequent
in Britain until the 17th century;[17] honor still is, in the
UK, the usual spelling as a persons name and appears in
Honor Oak, a district of London.
2.1.1 Derivatives and inected forms
In derivatives and inected forms of the -our/or words,
British usage depends on the nature of the sux used.
The u is kept before English suxes that are freely at-
tachable to English words (for example in neighbourhood,
humourless and savoury) and suxes of Greek or Latin
origin that have been adopted into English (for example in
favourite, honourable and behaviourism). However, be-
fore Latin suxes that are not freely attachable to English
words, the u:
may be dropped, for example in honorary,
honoric, honorist, vigorous, humorous, laborious
and invigorate;
may be either dropped or kept, for example in
colo(u)ration and colo(u)rize or colo(u)rise; or
may be kept, for example in colourist.[9]
2.2 -re, -er 3

2.1.2 Exceptions switched from "-or" endings to "-our" endings. The "-
our" spelling is taught in schools nationwide as part of
American usage, in most cases, keeps the u in the word the Australian curriculum. The most notable country-
glamour, which comes from Scots, not Latin or French. wide use of the -or ending is for the Australian Labor
Glamor is sometimes used in imitation of the spelling Party, which was originally called the Australian Labour
reform of other -our words to -or. Nevertheless, the Party (name adopted in 1908), but was frequently re-
adjective glamorous often drops the rst u. Saviour ferred to as both Labour and Labor. The Labor
is a somewhat common variant of savior in the US. was adopted from 1912 onward due to the inuence of the
The British spelling is very common for honour (and American labor movement[21] and King O'Malley. Aside
favour) in the formal language of wedding invitations in from that, -our is now almost universal in Australia. New
the US.[18] The name of the Space Shuttle Endeavour Zealand English, while sharing some words and syntax
has a u in it as the spacecraft was named after Captain with Australian English, follows British usage.
James Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour. The special car on
Amtrak's Coast Starlight train is known as the Pacic Par-
lour car, not Pacic Parlor. Proper names such as Pearl 2.2 -re, -er
Harbor or Sydney Harbour are usually spelled according
to their native-variety spelling vocabulary. In British English, some words from French, Latin or
The name of the herb savory is thus spelled everywhere, Greek end with a consonant followed by an unstressed -re
although the related adjective savo(u)ry, like savo(u)r, has (pronounced (non-rhotic accent) /()/ or (rhotic accent)
a u in the UK. Honor (the name) and arbor (the tool) have //). In American English, most of these words have
[22][23]
-or in Britain, as mentioned above. As a general noun, the ending -er. The dierence is most common
rigour /r/ or /-r/ has a u in the UK; the medical term for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings calibre,
rigor (often /ra/ or /-r/)[19] does not, such as in rigor centre, bre, goitre, litre, lustre, manoeuvre, meagre,
mortis, which is Latin. Derivations of rigour/rigor such as metre, mitre, nitre, ochre, reconnoitre, sabre, saltpetre,
rigorous, however, are typically spelled without a u even sepulchre, sombre, spectre, theatre (see exceptions) and
in the UK. Words with the ending -irior, -erior or similar titre all have -er in American spelling.
are spelled thus everywhere. In Britain, both -re and -er spellings were common before
The word armour was once somewhat common in Ameri- Johnsons dictionary was published. In Shakespeares rst
[5]
can usage but has disappeared from the current language. folios, -er spellings are used the most. Most English
words that today use -er were spelled -re at one time. In
American English, almost all of these have become -er,
2.1.3 Commonwealth usage but in British English only some of them have. Words that
were once spelled -re include chapter, December, disaster,
Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage. enter, lter, letter, member, minister, monster, Novem-
Canadian English most commonly uses the -our ending ber, number, October, oyster, powder, proper, Septem-
and -our- in derivatives and inected forms. However, ber, sober and tender. Words using the "-meter sux
(from ancient Greek - via post-Classical Latin me-
owing to the close historic, economic, and cultural rela-
tionship with the United States, -or endings are also some- ter) have normally had the -er spelling from earliest use in
English. Examples include thermometer and barometer.
times used. Throughout the late 19th and early to mid-
20th century, most Canadian newspapers chose to use the The e preceding the r is kept in American-derived forms
American usage of -or endings, originally to save time of nouns and verbs, for example, bers, reconnoitered,
and money in the era of manual movable type.[20] How- centering, which are bres, reconnoitred, and centring re-
ever, in the 1990s, the majority of Canadian newspapers spectively in British English. Centring is an interesting ex-
ocially updated their spelling policies to the British us- ample, since, according to the OED, it is a word ... of 3
age of -our. This coincided with a renewed interest in syllables (in careful pronunciation)" [24] (i.e., /snt/),
Canadian English, and the release of the updated Gage yet there is no vowel in the spelling corresponding to the
Canadian Dictionary in 1997 and the rst Oxford Cana- second syllable (//). The three-syllable version is listed
dian Dictionary in 1998. Historically, most libraries and as only the American pronunciation of centering on the
educational institutions in Canada have supported the use Oxford Dictionaries Online website. The e is dropped
of the Oxford English Dictionary rather the American for other derivations, for example, central, brous, spec-
Websters Dictionary. Today, the use of a distinctive set tral. However, such dropping cannot be deemed proof of
of Canadian English spellings is viewed by many Canadi- an -re British spelling: for example, entry and entrance
ans as one of the cultural uniquenesses of Canada (espe- come from enter, which has not been spelled entre for
cially when compared to the United States). centuries.[25]
In Australia, -or endings enjoyed some use throughout The dierence relates only to root words; -er rather than
the 19th century and in the early 20th century. Like in -re is universal as a sux for agentive (reader, winner,
Canada though, most major Australian newspapers have user) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One out-
4 2 LATIN-DERIVED SPELLINGS

come is the British distinction of meter for a measuring 2.2.2 Commonwealth usage
instrument from metre for the unit of length. However,
while "poetic metre" is often -re, pentameter, hexameter The -re endings are mostly standard throughout the Com-
etc. are always -er.[26] monwealth. The -er spellings are recognized as minor
variants in Canada, partly due to American inuence, and
are sometimes used in proper names (such as Torontos
controversially named Centerpoint Mall).[35]
2.2.1 Exceptions

Many other words have -er in British English. These in- 2.3 -ce, -se
clude Germanic words; such as anger, mother, timber and
water and Romance words danger, quarter and river. For advice/advise and device/devise, American English
The ending -cre, as in acre,[27] lucre, massacre, and and British English both keep the nounverb distinction
mediocre, is used in both British and American English both graphically and phonetically (where the pronunci-
to show that the c is pronounced /k/ rather than /s/. The ation is -[s] for the noun and -[z] for the verb). For
spellings ogre and euchre are also the same in both British licence/license or practice/practise, British English also
and American English. keeps the nounverb distinction graphically (although
phonetically the two words in each pair are homophones
Theater is the prevailing American spelling used to re- with -[s] pronunciation). On the other hand, American
fer to both the dramatic arts and buildings where stage English uses license and practice for both nouns and verbs
performances and screenings of lms take place (i.e., (with -[s] pronunciation in both cases too).
"movie theaters"); for example, a national newspaper
such as The New York Times would use theater in its en- American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling
tertainment section. However, the spelling theatre ap- for defense and oense, which are defence and oence
pears in the names of many New York City theaters on in British English. Likewise, there are the American
Broadway[28] (cf. Broadway theatre) and elsewhere in the pretense and British pretence; but derivatives such as
United States. In 2003, the American National Theatre defensive, oensive, and pretension are always thus spelled
was referred to by The New York Times as the Amer- in both systems.
ican National Theater", but the organization uses re Australian[36] and Canadian usage generally follows
in the spelling of its name.[29][30] The John F. Kennedy British.
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. has
the more common American spelling theater in its refer-
ences to The Eisenhower Theater, part of the Kennedy 2.4 -xion, -ction
Center.[31] Some cinemas outside New York also use the
theatre spelling.[32] (Note also that the word theater in The spelling connexion is now rare in everyday British
American English is a place where stage performances usage, its use lessening as knowledge of Latin lessens,[37]
and screenings of lms take place, but in British English and it is not used at all in the US: the more common con-
a theatre is where stage performances take place but not nection has become the standard worldwide. According
lm screenings these take place in a cinema.) to the Oxford English Dictionary the older spelling is more
Some placenames in the United States use Centre in their etymologically conservative, since the original Latin word
names. Examples include the Stonebriar Centre mall, the had -xio-. The American usage comes from Webster, who
cities of Rockville Centre and Centreville, Centre County abandoned -xion in favour of -ction by analogy with verbs
and Centre College. Sometimes, these places were named like connect.[38] Connexion was still the house style of The
before spelling changes but more often the spelling merely Times of London until the 1980s and was still used by the
serves as an aectation. British Post Oce for its telephone services in the 1970s,
For British accoutre, the American practice varies: the but had by then been overtaken by connection in regular
Merriam-Webster Dictionary prefers the -re spelling,[33] usage (for example, in more popular newspapers).
but The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Lan- Complexion (which comes from complex) is standard
guage prefers the -er spelling.[34] worldwide and complection is rare.[39] However, the ad-
More recent French loanwords keep the -re spelling in jective complected (as in dark-complected), although
American English. These are not exceptions when a sometimes objected to, is[40] standard in the US as an al-
French-style pronunciation is used (// rather than /()/ ternative to complexioned, but is not used in this way
or //), as with double entendre, genre and oeuvre. How- in the UK, although there is a rare usage to mean compli-
[41]
ever, the unstressed /()/ and // pronunciation of an -er cated.
ending is used more (or less) often with some words, in- In some cases, words with old-fashioned spellings are
cluding cadre, macabre, matre d', Notre Dame, piastre, retained widely in the US for historical reasons (cf.
and timbre. connexionalism).
3.2 -yse, -yze 5

3 Greek-derived spellings The same applies to derivatives and

inexions such as colonisation/colonization, or
modernisation/modernization
3.1 -ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)
Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientic writing and
See also: Oxford spelling are commonly used by many international organizations,
such as the United Nations Organizations (such as the
World Health Organization and the International Civil
Aviation Organization) and the International Organiza-
3.1.1 Origin and recommendations tion for Standardization (but not by the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development). The
The -ize spelling is often incorrectly seen as an Ameri- European Union's style guides require the usage of -
canism in Britain.[42] However, the Oxford English Dic- ise.[52] Proofreaders at the EUs Publications Oce en-
tionary (OED) recommends -ize and notes that the -ise sure consistent spelling in ocial publications such as the
spelling is from French: The sux...whatever the ele- Ocial Journal (where legislation and other ocial doc-
ment to which it is added, is in its origin the Greek -, uments are published), but the -ize spelling may be found
Latin -izre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there in other documents.
is no reason why in English the special French spelling
should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once
etymological and phonetic. The OED lists the -ise form 3.1.3 Exceptions
separately, as an alternative.[43]
Some verbs ending in -ize or -ise do not come from Greek
Publications by Oxford University Press (OUP)such as -, and their endings are therefore not interchange-
Henry Watson Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English able:
Usage, Harts Rules,[44] and The Oxford Guide to English
Usage[45] also recommend -ize. However, Robert Al-
lans Pocket Fowlers Modern English Usage considers ei- Some words take only the -z- form worldwide, for
ther spelling to be acceptable anywhere but the US. [46] example capsize, seize (except in the legal phrases to
Also, Oxford University itself does not agree with the be seised of /to stand seised to), size and prize (only in
OUP, but advocates -ise instead of -ize in its sta style the appraise sense). These, however, do not con-
guide. [47] tain the sux -ize.

Others take only -s- worldwide: advertise, advise,

3.1.2 Usage
American spelling avoids -ise endings in words like
organize, realize and recognize.[48]
British spelling mostly uses -ise, while -ize is also
used (organise/organize, realise/realize, recog-
nise/recognize):[48] the ratio between -ise and -ize
stands at 3:2 in the British National Corpus.[49] The
spelling -ise is more commonly used in UK mass
media and newspapers,[48] including The Times (which
switched conventions in 1992),[50] The Daily Telegraph
and The Economist. Meanwhile, -ize is used in some
British-based academic publications, such as Nature, the
Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement.
The dominant British English usage of -ise is preferred
by Cambridge University Press.[46] The minority British
English usage of -ize is known as Oxford spelling and
is used in publications of the Oxford University Press,
most notably the Oxford English Dictionary. It can be
identied using the IANA language tag en-GB-oxendict
(or, historically, by en-GB-oed).[51]
In Canada, the -ize ending is more common, whereas in
Ireland, India, Australia and New Zealand -ise spellings 3.2 -yse, -yze
strongly prevail: the -ise form is preferred in Australian
English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie The ending -yse is British and -yze is American. Thus, in
Dictionary.
arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise,
demise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise,
franchise, guise, improvise, incise, revise, rise, super-
vise, surmise, surprise, televise, and wise. Some of
these do not contain the sux -ise, but some do.
One special case is the verb to prise (meaning
to force or to lever), which is spelled prize in
the US[53] and prise everywhere else,[54] including
Canada,[55] although in North American English it
is almost always replaced by pry, a back-formation
from or alteration of prise.[56] A topsail schooner
built in Australia in 1829 was called Enterprize,
whereas there have been US ships and spacecraft
named Enterprise.
Some words spelled with -ize in American English are
not used in British English, etc., e.g., the verb burglarize,
regularly formed on the noun burglar, where the equiva-
lent in British, and other versions of, English is the back-
formation burgle and not burglarise.[57]
British English analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse and paralyse,
6 3 GREEK-DERIVED SPELLINGS

but in American English analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze and 3.4 ae and oe

paralyze.
Analyse seems to have been the more common spelling
See also: English orthography Ligatures
in 17th- and 18th-century English, but many of the great
dictionaries of that time John Kersey's of 1702, Nathan
Bailey's of 1721 and Samuel Johnson's of 1755 pre- Many words that are written with ae/ or oe/ in British
fer analyze. In Canada, -yze prevails, just as in the US. English are written with just an e in American English.
In South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, -yse stands The sounds in question are /i/ or // (or, unstressed, /i/
alone. or //). Examples (with non-American letter in bold):
aeon, anaemia, anaesthesia, caecum, caesium, coeliac,
English verbs ending in -lyse or -lyze are not similar to the
diarrhoea, encyclopaedia, faeces, foetal, gynaecology,
Greek verb, which is l (I release). Instead they
haemoglobin, haemophilia, leukaemia, oesophagus,
come from the noun form lysis with the -ise or -ize
oestrogen, orthopaedic, palaeontology, paediatric.
sux. For example, analyse comes from French anal-
Oenology is acceptable in American English but is
yser, formed by haplology from the French analysiser,[58]
deemed a minor variant of enology, whereas although
which would be spelled analysise or analysize in English.
archeology and ameba exist in American English, the
Harts Rules for Compositors and Readers at the Univer- British versions archaeology and amoeba are more
sity Press, Oxford states: In verbs such as analyse, catal- common. The chemical haem (named as a shortening of
yse, paralyse, -lys- is part of the Greek stem (correspond- haemoglobin) is spelled heme in American English, to
ing to the element -lusis) and not a sux like -ize. The avoid confusion with hem.
spelling -yze is therefore etymologically incorrect, and
Words that can be spelled either way in American English
must not be used, unless American printing style is be-
include aesthetics and archaeology (which usually prevail
ing followed.[44]
over esthetics and archeology),[63] as well as palaestra,
for which the simplied form palestra is described by
Merriam-Webster as chiey Brit[ish].[64]
3.3 -ogue, -og
Words that can be spelled either way in British English
include encyclopaedia, homoeopathy, chamaeleon,
British and other Commonwealth English uses the end- mediaeval (a minor variant in both AmE and
ing -logue and -gogue while American English commonly BrE[65][66][67] ), foetid and foetus. The spellings
uses the ending -log and -gog for words like analog(ue), foetus and foetal are Britishisms based on a mistaken
catalog(ue), dialog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), etc. etymology.[68] The etymologically correct original
The -gue spelling, as in catalogue, is used in the US, spelling fetus reects the Latin original and is the stan-
but catalog is more common. Additionally, in American dard spelling in medical journals worldwide,[69] though
English, dialogue is an extremely common spelling com- the Oxford English Dictionary comments that In Latin
pared to dialog, although both are treated as acceptable manuscripts both ftus and foetus are used.[70]
ways to spell the word.[59] (thus the inected forms, cat-
aloged and cataloging vs. catalogued and cataloguing). The Ancient Greek diphthongs <> and <> were
Synagogue is seldom used without -ue. transliterated into Latin as <ae> and <oe>. The ligatures
and were introduced when the sounds became
In Australia, analog is standard for the adjective, but both monophthongs, and later applied to words not of Greek
analogue and analog are current for the noun; in all other origin, in both Latin (for example, cli) and French
cases the -gue endings strongly prevail,[60] for example (for example, uvre). In English, which has adopted
monologue, except for such expressions as dialog box in words from all three languages, it is now usual to re-
computing,[61] which are also used in the UK. In Aus- place / with Ae/ae and / with Oe/oe. In many
tralia, analog is used in its technical and electronic sense, words, the digraph has been reduced to a lone e in all va-
as in analog electronics.[8] In Canada and New Zealand, rieties of English: for example, oeconomics, praemium,
analogue is used, but analog has some currency as a tech- and aenigma.[71] In others, it is kept in all varieties: for
nical term[62] (e.g., in electronics, as in analog electron- example, phoenix, and usually subpoena,[72] but Phenix
ics as opposed to digital electronics and some video- in Virginia. This is especially true of names: Caesar,
game consoles might have an analog stick). The -ue is ab- Oedipus, Phoebe, etc. There is no reduction of Latin -ae
sent worldwide in related words like analogy, analogous, plurals (e.g., larvae); nor where the digraph <ae>/<oe>
and analogist. does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for exam-
Both British and American English use the spelling -gue ple, maelstrom, toe. The British form aeroplane is an in-
with a silent -ue for certain words that are not part of the stance (compare other aero- words such as aerosol). The
-ogue set, such as tongue (cf. tong), plague, vague, and now chiey North American airplane is not a respelling
league. In addition, when the -ue is not silent, as in the but a recoining, modelled after airship and aircraft. The
words argue, ague and segue, all varieties of English use word airplane dates from 1907,[73] at which time the pre-
-gue. x aero- was trisyllabic, often written aro-.
4.1 Doubled in British English
3.4.1 Commonwealth usage
In Canada, e is usually preferred over oe and often over
ae, but oe and ae are sometimes found in the academic
and scientic writing as well as government publications
(for example the fee schedule of the Ontario Health In-
surance Plan). In Australia, encyclopedia and medieval
are spelled with e rather than ae, as with American usage,
and the Macquarie Dictionary also notes a growing ten-
dency towards replacing ae and oe with e worldwide.[8]
Elsewhere, the British usage prevails, but the spellings
with just e are increasingly used.[74] Manoeuvre is the
only spelling in Australia, and the most common one in
Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also some-
times found.[75]
4 Doubled consonants
4.1 Doubled in British English
The nal consonant of an English word is sometimes dou-
bled in both American and British spelling when adding a
sux beginning with a vowel, for example strip/stripped,
which prevents confusion with stripe/striped and shows
the dierence in pronunciation (see digraph). Generally,
this happens only when the words nal syllable is stressed
and when it also ends with a lone vowel followed by a lone
consonant. In British English, however, a nal -l is of-
ten doubled even when the nal syllable is unstressed.[76]
This exception is no longer usual in American English,
[77]
seemingly because of Noah Webster. The -ll- spellings
are nevertheless still deemed acceptable variants by both Among consonants other than l, practice varies for some
Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dic- words, such as where the nal syllable has secondary
tionaries.
The British English doubling is used for all inec- by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s,[79] are common, but
tions (-ed, -ing, -er, -est) and for the noun suf- kidnapped and worshipped prevail.[80][81] Kidnapped and
xes -er and -or. Therefore, British English us- worshipped are the only standard British spellings.
age is cancelled, counsellor, cruellest, labelled, mod-
elling, quarrelled, signalling, traveller, and travelling. Miscellaneous:
Americans typically use canceled, counselor, cru-
elest, labeled, modeling, quarreled, signaling, trav-
eler, and traveling.
The word parallel keeps a single -l- in British
English, as in American English (paralleling,
unparalleled), to avoid the unappealing cluster
-llell-.
Words with two vowels before a nal l are
also spelled with -ll- in British English be-
fore a sux when the rst vowel either acts
as a consonant (equalling and initialled; in the
United States, equaling or initialed), or belongs
to a separate syllable (British fuelling and
dialled; American fueling and dialed).
British woollen is a further exception due
to the double vowel (American: woolen).
7
Also, wooly is accepted in American
English, though woolly prevails in both
systems.[78]
Endings -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist, -ish usually do not dou-
ble the l in British English; for example, normalise,
dualism, novelist, and devilish.
Exceptions: tranquillise; duellist, medallist,
panellist, and sometimes triallist in British En-
glish.
For -ous, British English has a single l in scandalous
and perilous, but the ll in marvellous and libellous.
For -ee, British English has libellee.
For -age, British English has pupillage but vassalage.
American English sometimes has an unstressed -ll-,
as in the UK, in some words where the root has -
l. These are cases where the change happens in the
source language, which was often Latin. (Examples:
bimetallism, cancellation, chancellor, crystallize, ex-
cellent, tonsillitis, and raillery.)
All forms of English have compelled, excelling, pro-
pelled, rebelling (notice the stress dierence); re-
vealing, fooling (note the double vowel before the
l); and hurling (consonant before the l).
Canadian and Australian English mostly follow
British usage.[76]
stress or an unreduced vowel. In the United States, the
spellings kidnaped and worshiped, which were introduced
British calliper or caliper; American caliper.
British jewellery; American jewelry. The word orig-
inates from the Old French word jouel[82] (whose
contemporary French equivalent is joyau, with
the same meaning). The standard pronunciation
/dulri/[83] does not reect this dierence, but the
non-standard pronunciation /dulri/ (which exists
in New Zealand and Britain, hence the Cockney
rhyming slang word tomfoolery /tmfulri/) does.
According to Fowler, jewelry used to be the rhetor-
ical and poetic spelling in the UK, and was still used
by The Times into the mid-20th century. Canada has
both, but jewellery is more often used. Likewise, the
Commonwealth (including Canada) has jeweller and
the US has jeweler for a jewel(le)ry seller.
8 7 PAST TENSE DIFFERENCES

4.2 Doubled in American English Both forms of English keep the silent e in the words dye-
ing, singeing, and swingeing[91] (in the sense of dye, singe,
Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer and swinge), to distinguish from dying, singing, swinging
a single l and Americans a double l. In American usage, (in the sense of die, sing, and swing). In contrast, the verb
the spelling of words is usually not changed when they bathe and the British verb bath both form bathing. Both
form the main part (not prex or sux) of other words, forms of English vary for tinge and twinge; both prefer
especially in newly formed words and in words whose cringing, hinging, lunging, syringing.
main part is in common use. Words with this spelling dif-
ference include wil(l)ful, skil(l)ful, thral(l)dom, appal(l),
Before -able, British English prefers likeable, live-
full(l), full(l)ment, enrol(l)ment, instal(l)ment. These
able, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable,[92]
words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -
where American practice prefers to drop the "-
ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, ll, roll, stall. Cases where a
e"; but both British and American English pre-
single l nevertheless occurs in both American and British
fer breathable, curable, datable, lovable, movable,
English include nullannul, annulment; tilluntil (al-
notable, provable, quotable, scalable, solvable, us-
though some prefer til to reect the single l in until, some-
able,[92] and those where the root is polysyllabic, like
times using an apostrophe (til); this should be considered
believable or decidable. Both systems keep the silent
a hypercorrection as till predates the use of until); and
e when it is needed to preserve a soft c, ch,
others where the connection is not clear or the monosyl-
or g, such as in traceable, cacheable, changeable;
labic cognate is not in common use in American English
both usually keep the e after "-dge, as in knowl-
(e.g., null is used mainly as a technical term in law, math-
edgeable, unbridgeable, and unabridgeable (These
ematics, and computer science).
rights are unabridgeable).
In the UK, a single l is generally preferred in distil(l),
instil(l), enrol(l), and enthral(l)ment, and enthral(l), al- Both abridgment and the more regular abridgement
though ll was formerly used;[84] these are always spelled are current in the US, only the latter in the UK.[93]
with ll in American usage. The former British spellings Likewise for the word lodg(e)ment. Both judgment
instal, fulness, and dulness are now quite rare.[85] The and judgement are in use interchangeably every-
Scottish tolbooth is cognate with tollbooth, but it has a where, although the former prevails in the US and
distinct meaning. the latter prevails in the UK[94] except in the prac-
In both American and British usages, words normally tice of law, where judgment is standard. This also
spelled -ll usually drop the second l when used as holds for abridgment and acknowledgment. Both
prexes or suxes, for example fulluseful, hand- systems prefer edgling to edgeling, but ridgeling
ful; allalmighty, altogether; wellwelfare, welcome; to ridgling. Both acknowledgment, acknowledge-
chillchilblain. ment, abridgment and abridgement are used in Aus-
tralia; the shorter forms are endorsed by the Aus-
Both the British full and the American fulll never tralian Capital Territory Government.[8][95] Apart
use -ll- in the middle (i.e., *fullll and *fulll are from when the e is dropped and in the word gaol
incorrect).[86][87] and some pronunciations of margarine, g can only
Johnson wavered on this issue. His dictionary of 1755 be soft when followed by an e, i, or y.
lemmatizes distil and instill, downhil and uphill.[88]
The word blue always drops the e when forming
bluish or bluing.
5 Dropped e
British English sometimes keeps silent e when adding 6 Hard and soft c
suxes where American English does not. Generally
speaking, British English drops it in only some cases in A c is generally soft when followed by an e, i, or
which it is needed to show pronunciation whereas Amer- y. One word with a pronunciation that is an exception
ican English only uses it where needed. in British English, sceptic, is spelled skeptic in Amer-
ican English. See Miscellaneous spelling dierences
British prefers ageing,[89] American usually aging below.
(compare raging, ageism). For the noun or verb
route, British English often uses routeing,[90] but
in America routing is used. The military term rout
forms routing everywhere. However, all of these
7 Past tense dierences
words form router, whether used in the context of
carpentry, data communications, or military. (e.g., This is a particular case of #Dierent spellings
Attacus was the router of the Huns at ....) for dierent pronunciations.

In the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada,
it is more common to end some past tense verbs with a t
as in learnt or dreamt rather than learned or dreamed.[96]
However, such spellings are also found in American En-
glish.
Several verbs have dierent past tenses or past participles
in American and British English:
The past tense of the verb to dive is most com-
monly found as dived in British, Australian, and
New Zealand English. Dove is usually used in its
place in American English. Both terms are under-
stood in Canada, and may be found either in minor-
ity use or in regional dialect in America.
The past participle and past tense of the verb to get
is most commonly found as got in British and New
Zealand English. Gotten is also used in its place
in American and Canadian, and occasionally in Aus-
tralian English, as a past participle, though got is
widely used as a past tense. The main exception is
in the phrase ill-gotten, which is widely used in
British, Australian and New Zealand English. Both
terms are understood, and may be found either in
minority use or in regional dialect. This does not
aect forget and beget, whose past participles
are forgotten and begotten in all varieties.
8 Dierent spellings for dierent
meanings
dependant or dependent (noun): British dictionar-
ies distinguish between dependent (adjective) and
dependant (noun). In the US, dependent is usual
for both noun and adjective, regardless of dependant
also being an acceptable variant for the noun form
in the US.[97]
disc or disk: Traditionally, disc used to be British
and disk American. Both spellings are etymologi-
cally sound (Greek diskos, Latin discus), although
disk is earlier. In computing, disc is used for opti-
cal discs (e.g., a CD, Compact Disc; DVD, Digital
Versatile/Video Disc), by choice of the group that
coined and trademarked the name Compact Disc,
while disk is used for products using magnetic stor-
age (e.g., hard disks or oppy disks, also known
as diskettes).[98] For this limited application, these
spellings are used in both the US and the Com-
monwealth. Solid-state devices also use the spelling
disk.
enquiry or inquiry:[99] According to Fowler, inquiry
should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and
enquiry to the act of questioning. Many (though
not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the
OED, in their entry dating from 1900, lists inquiry
9
and enquiry as equal alternatives, in that order (with
the addition of public inquiry in a 1993 addition).
Some British dictionaries, such as Chambers 21st
Century Dictionary,[100] present the two spellings as
interchangeable variants in the general sense, but
prefer inquiry for the formal inquest sense. In
the US, only inquiry is commonly used; the title of
the National Enquirer, as a proper name, is an ex-
ception. In Australia, inquiry and enquiry are of-
ten interchangeable.[101] Both are current in Canada,
where enquiry is often associated with scholarly or
intellectual research.
ensure or insure: In the UK (and Australia and New
Zealand), the word ensure (to make sure, to make
certain) has a distinct meaning from the word in-
sure (often followed by against to guarantee or
protect against, typically by means of an insurance
policy). The distinction is only about a century
old.[102] In American usage, insure may also be used
in the former sense, but ensure may not be used in
the latter sense. According to Merriam-Websters
usage notes, ensure and insure are interchangeable
in many contexts where they indicate the making
certain or [making] inevitable of an outcome, but
ensure may imply a virtual guarantee <the govern-
ment has ensured the safety of the refugees>, while
insure sometimes stresses the taking of necessary
measures beforehand <careful planning should in-
sure the success of the party>.[103]
matt or matte: In the UK, matt refers to a non-
glossy surface, and matte to the motion-picture tech-
nique; in the US, matte covers both.[104]
programme or program: The British programme
is from post-classical Latin programma and French
programme. Program rst appeared in Scotland in
1633 (earlier than programme in England in 1671)
and is the only spelling found in the US. The OED
entry, updated in 2007, says that program conforms
to the usual representation of the Greek as in ana-
gram, diagram, telegram etc. In British English,
program is the common spelling for computer pro-
grams, but for other meanings programme is used.
New Zealand also follows this pattern. In Australia,
program has been endorsed by government writing
standards for all meanings since the 1960s,[105] and
is listed as the ocial spelling in the Macquarie
Dictionary;[8] see also the name of The Micallef
P(r)ogram(me). In Canada, program prevails, and
the Canadian Oxford Dictionary makes no meaning-
based distinction between it and programme. How-
ever, some Canadian government documents nev-
ertheless use programme for all meanings of the
word and also to match the spelling of the French
equivalent.[105]
tonne or ton: In the UK, Australia, Canada, and
New Zealand, the spelling tonne refers to the metric
10 12 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

unit (1000 kilograms), whereas in the US the same
unit is called a metric ton. The unqualied ton usu-
ally refers to the long ton (2,240 pounds or 1,016
kilograms) in the UK and to the short ton (2,000
pounds or 907 kilograms) in the US (but note that
the tonne and long ton dier by only 1.6%, and are
roughly interchangeable when accuracy is not criti-
cal; ton and tonne are usually pronounced the same
in speech).
See also meter/metre, for which there is a British En-
glish distinction between these etymologically related
forms with dierent meanings but the standard American
spelling is meter. The spelling used by the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures is metre.[106] This
spelling is also the usual one for the unit of length in most
English-speaking countries, but only the spelling meter
is used in American English, and this is ocially en-
dorsed by the United States.[107]
writing.[198] Other senses always have the two-word
form; thus Americans distinguish I couldn't love
you anymore [so I left you]" from I couldn't love
you any more [than I already do]". In Hong Kong
English, any more is always two words.[199]
for ever or forever: Traditional British English us-
age makes a distinction between for ever, meaning
for eternity (or a very long time into the future), as
in If you are waiting for income tax to be abolished
you will probably have to wait for ever"; and for-
ever, meaning continually, always, as in They are
forever arguing.[200] In British usage today, how-
ever, forever prevails in the for eternity sense as
well,[201] in spite of several style guides maintain-
ing the distinction.[202] American writers usually use
forever regardless of which sense they intend (al-
though forever in the sense of continually is com-
paratively rare in American English, having been
displaced by always).

near by or nearby: Some British writers make the

9 Dierent spellings for dierent distinction between the adverbial near by, which is
pronunciations written as two words, as in, No one was near by";
and the adjectival nearby, which is written as one,
as in, The nearby house.[203] In American English,
In a few cases, essentially the same word has a dierent
the one-word spelling is standard for both forms.
spelling that reects a dierent pronunciation.
As well as the miscellaneous cases listed in the follow- per cent or percent: It can be correctly spelled as
ing table, the past tenses of some irregular verbs dier either one or two words, depending on the Anglo-
in both spelling and pronunciation, as with smelt (UK) phone country, but either spelling must always be
versus smelled (US) (see American and British English consistent with its usage. British English predom-
dierences: Verb morphology). inantly spells it as two words, so does English in
Ireland and countries in the Commonwealth of Na-
tions such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
10 Miscellaneous spelling dier- American English predominantly spells it as one
word. Historically, it used to be spelled as two
ences words in the United States, but its usage is dimin-
ishing; nevertheless it is a variant spelling in Amer-
In the table below, the main spellings are above the ac- ican English today. The spelling dierence is re-
cepted alternative spellings. ected in the style guides of newspapers and other
media agencies in the US, Ireland, and countries
of the Commonwealth of Nations. In Canada (and
11 Compounds and hyphens sometimes in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, other
Commonwealth countries, and Ireland) percent is
also found, mostly sourced from American press
British English often prefers hyphenated compounds,
agencies.
such as anti-smoking, whereas American English discour-
ages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no
compelling reason, so antismoking is much more com-
mon. Many dictionaries do not point out such dier- 12 Acronyms and abbreviations
ences. Canadian and Australian usage is mixed, although
Commonwealth writers generally hyphenate compounds Acronyms pronounced as words are often written in title
of the form noun plus phrase (such as editor-in-chief).[197] case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case
Commander-in-chief prevails in all forms of English. by Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef /
UNICEF.[204] This does not apply to abbreviations that
any more or anymore: In sense any longer, the are pronounced as individual letters (referred to by some
single-word form is usual in North America and as "initialisms"), such as US, IBM, or PRC (the Peoples
Australia but unusual elsewhere, at least in formal Republic of China), which are always written as upper

case. However, sometimes title case is still used in the
UK, such as Pc (Police Constable).[205]
Contractions, where the nal letter is present, are often
written in British English without full stops/periods (Mr,
Mrs, Dr, St, Ave). Abbreviations where the nal letter is
not present generally do take full stops/periods (such as
vol., etc., i.e., ed.); British English shares this convention
with the French: Mlle, Mme, Dr, Ste, but M. for Monsieur.
In American and Canadian English, abbreviations like
St., Ave., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., and Jr., always require full
stops/periods. Some initials are usually upper case in the
US but lower case in the UK: liter/litre and its compounds
(2 L or 25 mL vs 2 l or 25 ml);[206][207] and ante meri-
diem and post meridiem (10 P.M. or 10 PM vs 10 p.m.
or 10 pm).[208][209][210] Both AM/PM and a.m./p.m. are
acceptable in American English, though AM/PM is more
common.
13 Punctuation
Further information: Quotation marks in English 15 Notes
Typographical considerations, and Comparison of
American and British English Quoting
The use of quotation marks, also called inverted commas
or speech marks, is complicated by the fact that there are
two kinds: single quotation marks (') and double quota-
tion marks ("). British usage, at one stage in the recent
past, preferred single quotation marks for ordinary use,
but double quotation marks are again now increasingly
common; American usage has always preferred double
quotation marks, as does Canadian, Australian, and New
Zealand English. It is the practice to alternate the type of
quotation marks used where there is a quotation within a
quotation.[211]
The convention used to be, and in American English still
is, to put full stops (periods) and commas inside the quo-
tation marks, irrespective of the sense. British English
has moved away from this style while American English
has kept it. British style now prefers to punctuate accord-
ing to the sense, in which punctuation marks only appear
inside quotation marks if they were there in the original.
Formal British English practice requires a full stop to be
put inside the quotation marks if the quoted item is a full
sentence that ends where the main sentence ends, but it
is common to see the stop outside the ending quotation
marks.[212]
14 See also
Australian English
Canadian English [12] -or. Online Etymology Dictionary.
English language in England [13] Peters, p. 397.
11
English in the Commonwealth of Nations
English orthography
Hong Kong English
Hiberno-English
Indian English
Malaysian English
Manx English
New Zealand English
Philippine English
Scottish English
Singaporean English
South African English
[1] David Micklethwait (1 January 2005). Noah Webster and
the American Dictionary. McFarland. p. 137. ISBN 978-
0-7864-2157-2.
[2] Scragg, Donald (1974). A history of English spelling.
Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. pp.
8283. ISBN 978-0-06-496138-7. Johnsons dictionary
became the accepted standard for private spelling ... of
a literate Englishman ... during the nineteenth century ...
Webster had more success in inuencing the development
of American usage than Johnson had with British usage.
[3] Algeo, John, The Eects of the Revolution on Language
in A Companion to the American Revolution, John Wiley
& Sons: 2008, p. 599.
[4] -or. Online Etymology Dictionary.
[5] Venezky, Richard. The American Way of Spelling: The
Structure and Origins of American English Orthography.
Guilford Press, 1999. p.26
[6] Clark, 2009.
[7] Chambers, 1998.
[8] The Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition. The Mac-
quarie Library Pty Ltd, 2005.
[9] Websters Third, p. 24a.
[10] Oxford English Dictionary, colour, color.
[11] Onions, CT, ed. (1987) [1933]. The Shorter Oxford En-
glish Dictionary (Third Edition (1933) with corrections
(1975) ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 370.
ISBN 0-19-861126-9.
12
[14] Johnson 1755preface
[15] Mencken, H L (1919). The American Language. New
York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-40076-3.
[16] Sta. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 16741913.
Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheeld.
Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved
19 June 2008.
[17] Oxford English Dictionary, honour, honor.
[18] Baldrige, Letitia (1990). Letitia Baldriges Complete Guide
to the New Manners for the '90s: A Complete Guide to Eti-
quette. Rawson. p. 214. ISBN 0-89256-320-6.
[19] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/
rigor
[20] MacPherson, William (31 March 1990). Practical con-
cerns spelled the end for -our. Ottawa Citizen. p. B3.
[21] Australian Labor: History. ALP.org.au.
[22] Venezky, Richard L. (2001). "-re versus -er". In Al-
geo, John. The Cambridge History of the English Lan-
guage. VI: English in North America. Cambridge, Eng-
land: Cambridge University Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-521-
26479-0.
[23] Howard, Philip (1984). The State of the Language
English Observed. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 148.
ISBN 0-241-11346-6.
[24] (Oxford English Dictionary: Second edition).
[25] From the OED cites, Chaucer used both forms, but the
last usages of the re form were in the early 18th century.
The Oxford English Dictionary: 1989 edition.
[26] Except in a 1579 usage (Oxford English Dictionary: 1989
edition).
[27] Although acre was spelled cer in Old English and aker
in Middle English, the acre spelling of Middle French was
introduced in the 15th century. Similarly, loover was re-
spelled in the 17th century by inuence of the unrelated
Louvre. (See OED, s.v. acre and louvre)
[28] Gove, Philip, ed. (1989). "-er/-re. Websters third new
international dictionary of the English language. 2 (3 ed.).
Springeld, MA: Merriam Webster. pp. 24a. ISBN 978-
0-87779-302-1.
[29] Robin Pogrebin (3 September 2003). Proposing an
American Theater Downtown. The New York Times
(Arts section). The New York Times Company. Retrieved
22 September 2008.
[30] The American National Theatre (ANT)". ANT. 2008
2009. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008.
Retrieved 22 September 2008.
[31] The Kennedy Center. John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts. Archived from the original on 23
September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
[32] Cinemark Theatres. Centurytheaters.com. Retrieved 7
February 2010.
15 NOTES
[33] accoutre. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2012-03-
04.
[34] accouter
[35] Peters, p 461.
[36] Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers of Aus-
tralian Government Publications, Third Edition, Revised
by John Pitson, Australian Government Publishing Ser-
vice, Canberra, 1978, page 10, In general, follow the
spellings given in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford
Dictionary.
[37] Peters (2004: 135)
[38] 1989 Oxford English Dictionary:connexion, connection.
[39] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language:complection". New York: Houghton Miin.
2000. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
[40] complected. Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English
usage. Springeld, Mass: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1994.
p. 271. ISBN 0-87779-132-5. not an error...simply an
Americanism
[41] complect, v.. Oxford English Dictionary.
[42] "-ize or -ise?". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University
Press. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
[43] Oxford English Dictionary "-ise1 "
[44] Hart, Horace. Harts Rules for Compositors and Readers
at the University Press, Oxford (39 ed.). Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-212983-X.
[45] Weiner, E.S.C.; Delahunty, Andrew (1994). The Oxford
Guide to English Usage (paperback). Oxford University
Press. p. 32.
[46] Allen, Robert, ed. (2008). Pocket Fowlers Modern En-
glish Usage. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
p. 354. ISBN 978-0-19-923258-1. may be legitimately
spelled with either -ize or -ise throughout the English-
speaking world (except in America, where -ize is always
used)...Cambridge University Press and others prefer -ise
[47] University of Oxford Style Guide: Word usage and
spelling Linked 2013-07-14
[48] "Are spellings like 'privatize' and 'organize' American-
isms?". AskOxford.com. 2006.
[49] Peters, p. 298: "[With] contemporary British writers the
ise spellings outnumber those with ize in the ratio of about
3:2 (emphasis as original)
[50] Richard Dixon, Questions answered, The Times, 13 Jan-
uary 2004.
[51] IANA language subtag registry, IANA, with en-GM-
oed marked as added 2003-07-09 as grandfathered, and
deprecated eective 2015-04-17, with en-GB-oxendict
preferred (accessed 2015-08-08).
[52] 3.2 -is-/-iz- spelling. English Style Guide. A handbook
for authors and translators in the European Commission
(PDF) (8th ed.). 26 August 2016. p. 14.

[53] prize. Websters Third New International Dictionary,
Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. Also, prize.
Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Ed.
[54] According to Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary,
Eleventh Ed.: prise is a chiey Brit var of PRIZE.
[55] Peters, p. 441
[56] Peters, p. 446.
[57] Garner, Bryan. A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2nd
ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-19-
514236-5. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
[58] Oxford English Dictionary, analyse, -ze, v. .
[59] Both the Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary and The
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
have catalog as the main headword and catalogue as
an equal variant.
[60] Peters, p. 236.
[61] MSDN C#.NET OpenFileDialog Class.
Msdn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
[62] Peters, p. 36.
[63] Peters, p. 20.
[64] Websters Third New International Dictionary, copyright
1993 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
[65] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval
[66] https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=
medieval&submit.x=35&submit.y=30
[67] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/medieval
[68] Aronson, Je (26 July 1997). When I use a
word...:Oe no!". British Medical Journal. 315 (7102).
doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7102.0h. Archived from the orig-
inal on 20 April 2005.
[69] New Oxford Dictionary of English.
[70] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry fetus
[71] Websters Third, p. 23a.
[72] Wilson, Kenneth G. (1993). subpoena, subpena (n., v.)".
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[73] Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, airplane.
[74] Peters, p. 20, p. 389.
[75] Peters, p. 338.
[76] Peters, p. 309.
[77] Cf. Oxford English Dictionary, traveller, traveler.
[78] Peters, p. 581
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[79] Zorn, Eric (8 June 1997). Errant Spelling: Moves for
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[80] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kidnapped
[81] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
worshipped
[82] Jewelry vs. Jewellery. Lazaro Soho. Retrieved 23
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[83] Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, jewellery UK,
American jewelry
[84] OED Second Edition
[85] Peters, p. 283
[86] full. Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 3 May
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[87] full. Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford Uni-
versity Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK pub-
lic library membership required.)
[88] Peters, p. 501.
[89] Peters, p. 22.
[90] Peters, p. 480. Also National Routeing Guide
[91] In American English, swingeing is sometimes spelled
swinging see American Heritage Dictionary entry, and the
reader has to discern from the context which word and
pronunciation is meant.
[92] British National Corpus
[93] Peters, p. 7
[94] Peters, p. 303.
[95] Spelling, Abbreviations and Symbols Guide (pdf). Re-
trieved 2012-11-15.
[96] BBC Mundo | Questions about English. Bbc.co.uk. Re-
trieved 2012-03-04.
[97] Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
[98] Howarth, Lynne C; others (14 June 1999). ""Executive
summary from review of International Standard Bibli-
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[99] Peters, p. 282.
[100] Chambers | Free English Dictionary. Chambershar-
rap.co.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
[101] See Macquarie Dictionary (5th ed.)'s explanation under
-in2 . The dictionary also lists 'inquiry' as the primary
spelling, with 'enquiry' being a cross-reference to the for-
mer (denoting lower prevalence in Australian English).
The British distinction between 'inquiry' and 'enquiry' is
noted.
 14 15 NOTES

[102] Peters, p. 285 [124] Added by Symphony on 15 October 2009 (15 October
2009). Things I don't Understand: Part 3 Canada!".
[103] Merriam-Webster Online. . Retrieved 30 December giantbomb. Archived from the original on 23 December
2007. 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
[104] Peters, p. 340. [125] naivety. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-
01-26.
[105] Peters, p. 443.
[126] naivety. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House.
[106] Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, 2006, p. 124.
Retrieved 2016-01-26.
[107] The Metric Conversion Act of 1985 gives the Secretary [127] Peters, p. 364.
of Commerce of the US the responsibility of interpret-
ing or modifying the SI for use in the US The Secre- [128] Merriam Websters 11th Collegiate Dictionary, navet and
tary of Commerce delegated this authority to the Direc- naivety.
tor of the National Institute of Standards and Technol-
ogy (NIST) (Turner, 2008). In 2008, the NIST published [129] Grammar Oxford Dictionaries Online. Askox-
the US version (Taylor and Thompson, 2008a) of the En- ford.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
glish text of the eighth edition of the International Bureau
[130] OED, s.v. 'pyjamas
of Weights and Measures publication Le Systme Interna-
tional d'Units (SI) (BIPM, 2006). In the NIST publica- [131] Oxford English Dictionary, persnickety
tion, the spellings meter, liter, and deka are used
rather than metre, litre, and deca as in the original [132] Peters, p. 487
BIPM English text (Taylor and Thompson, 2008a, p. iii).
The Director of the NIST ocially acknowledged this [133] In Websters New World College Dictionary, scalawag is
publication, together with Taylor and Thompson (2008b), lemmatized without alternative, while scallawag and scal-
as the legal interpretation of the SI for the United States lywag are dened by cross-reference to it. All of them are
(Turner, 2008). marked as originally American.

[108] etymonline.com. etymonline.com. Retrieved 2012-03- [134] See the respective denitions in the American Heritage
04. Dictionary.

[135] See, for example, the November 2006 BMA document

[109] Oxford English Dictionary, airplane, draft revision March
titled Selection for Specialty Training
2008; airplane is labelled chiey North American
[136] Peters, p. 510.
[110] British National Corpus. Retrieved 1 April 2008.
[137] Annexes. Australiawide Annexes. Retrieved 2012-11-
[111] Merriam-Webster online, aerodrome. Retrieved 1 April
13.
2008.
[138] Tui Eco Annex | Accommodation in Northland, New
[112] Oxford English Dictionary, airdrome.
Zealand. Newzealand.com. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
[113] Ultra-light Aeroplane Transition Strategy Transport [139] artefact. Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford
Canada. Retrieved 13 February 2015. University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK
[114] History & Etymology of Aluminium. Ele- public library membership required.)
ments.vanderkrogt.net. 1 October 2002. Retrieved [140] Peters, p. 49.
2012-03-04.
[141] Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford
[115] Peters, p. 32. University Press. March 2009.
[116] Murray, James A. H. (1880). Spelling Reform. Annual [142] Oxford English Dictionary online edition: entry axe | ax
address of the President of the Philological Society. Bath:
Isaac Pitman. p. 5. Retrieved 3 May 2010. [143] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition, entry
camomile | chamomile
[117] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Lan-
guage: Fourth Edition. [144] Peters, p. 104.

[118] OED, shivaree [145] Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-
4-19.
[119] Oxford English Dictionary, furore.
[146] Merriam-Webster Online. . Retrieved 1 January 2008.
[120] Peters, p. 221.
[147] draught. Concise OED. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
[121] Oxford English Dictionary, Grotty; Grody
[148] Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition, draught; draft (the
[122] Peters, p. 242 latter being used in an international marine context) .

[123] Oxford English Dictionary, mom and mam [149] Peters, p. 165.
 15

[150] Draft. Online Etymology Dictionary. [175] Peters, p. 230.

[151] Oxford English Dictionary, draught. [176] COED 11th Ed

[152] gage.Merriam-Webster.com [177] Mavens word of the day: rack/wrack. Random-

house.com. 20 April 1998. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
[153] Online Etymology Dictionary: gage. Etymonline.com.
Retrieved 2012-03-04. [178] Cald Rack. Dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2012-
03-04.
[154] Garner, Bryan A. (1998). A Dictionary of Modern Amer-
ican Usage. New York: OUP. p. 313. ISBN 0-19- [179] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry sceptic
507853-5. | skeptic

[155] gauntlet2 ". Concise OED. [180] Peters, p. 502.

[156] Peters, p. 235 [181] Oxford English Dictionary, sceptic, skeptic.

[157] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry grey | [182] Berube, Margery S.; Pickett, Joseph P.; Leonesio,
gray Christopher (28 September 2005). slew / slough / slue.
A Guide to Contemporary Usage & Style. Houghton Mif-
[158] customcargrills.com. Custom Car & Truck Grills Billet in Harcourt. p. 435. ISBN 9780618604999. Retrieved
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[183] "''A Concise Dictionary of Middle English''". Pbm.com.
[159] Williams, Brian (3 June 2011). Kookaburra survives Retrieved 2012-03-04.
700km trip after being stuck in cars grille | thetele-
[184] Peters, Pam (2002). storey or story. The Cambridge
graph.com.au. Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2012-
Guide to English Usage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
11-13.
University Press. p. 517. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
[160] Cat survives 35km wedged in car grille National NZ
[185] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry story |
Herald News. Nzherald.co.nz. 11 June 2012. Retrieved
storey
2012-11-13.
[186] Royal Society of Chemistry 1992 policy change.
[161] Google Ngram Viewer. books.google.com.
Rsc.org. 1 January 1992. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
"grill:eng_us_2012/grille:eng_us_2012,grill:
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29. November 2000. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
[162] Online Etymology Dictionary: hearken [188] The spelling sulfur predominates in United States tech-
nical usage, while both sulfur and sulphur are common
[163] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry jail | in general usage. British usage tends to favor sulphur for
gaol all applications. The same pattern is seen in most of the
words derived from sulfur. Usage note, Merriam-Webster
[164] tiscali.reference. Retrieved on 10 March 2007.
Online. . Retrieved 1 January 2008.
[165] OED entry and British Journal of Applied Physics Volume
[189] The contrasting spellings of the chemical elements Al and
13 page 456
S mean that the American spelling aluminum sulde be-
[166] Online Etymology Dictionary: licorice. Etymon- comes aluminum sulphide in Canada, and as aluminium
line.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. sulphide in older British usage.

[167] Ernout, Alfred; Meillet, Antoine (2001). Dictionnaire ety- [190] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry sulphur
mologique de la langue latine. Paris: Klincksieck. p. 362. | sulfur
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[191] Browse 1913 => Word Thru :: Search the 1913 Noah
[168] Peters, p. 321. Websters Dictionary of the English Language (Free)".
1913.mshaer.com. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 2012-
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[170] Denition for MIDRIF Websters 1844 dictionary. [192] Peters, p. 553.
Emily Dickinson Lexicon. Brigham Young University.
[193] Peters, p. 566.
[171] Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: entry mould |
[194] US Code of Federal Regulations Title 27: Alcohol,
mold
Tobacco Products and Firearms, Section 5.22: Standards
[172] Peters, p. 360 of Identity for Distilled Spirits (PDF). Retrieved 25 July
2014.
[173] Peters, p. 392.
[195] Peters, p. 587. Yogourt is an accepted variant in French
[174] Oxford English Dictionary: plough, plow. of the more normal Standard French yaourt.
 16 17 EXTERNAL LINKS

[196] Merriam-Webster Online Yogurt entry.
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[198] Peters, p. 41.
[199] Bunton, David. Common English Errors in Hong Kong.
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[202] For example, The Times, The Guardian, The Economist.
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[206] Units outside the SI. Essentials of the SI. NIST.
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 17

18 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

18.1 Text
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