American and British English spelling differences

Spelling and pronunciation

In a few cases, essentially the same word has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation. However, in most cases the pronunciation of the words is the same, or nearly so.

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

UK US Notes

aeroplane

airplane

Aeroplane, originally a French loanword with a different meaning, is the older spelling.^[4] The oldest recorded uses of the spelling airplane are British.^[4] According to the OED^[5], "[a]irplane became the standard American term (replacing aeroplane) after this was adopted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1916. Although A. Lloyd James recommended its adoption by the BBC in 1928, it has until recently been no more than an occasional form in British English." In the British National Corpus^[6], aeroplane outnumbers airplane by more than 7:1 in the UK. The case is similar for the British aerodrome^[7] and American airdrome^[8], although both of these terms are now obsolete. The prefixes aero- and air- both mean air, with the first coming from the Ancient Greek word ἀήρ (āēr). Thus, the prefix appears in aeronautics, aerostatics, aerodynamics, aeronautical engineering, and so on, where the suffix is a Greek word, while the second occurs (invariably) in aircraft, airport, airliner, airmail, etc. where the suffix is an English word. In Canada, airplane is used more commonly than aeroplane, although aeroplane is not unknown, especially in parts of French Canada (where the current French term is, avion—aéroplane designating in French 19th-century flying machines).^[9] In all of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, aerodrome is used merely as a technical term.

aluminium aluminum

The spelling aluminium is the international standard in the sciences according to the IUPAC recommendations, which however add The alternative spelling ‘aluminum’ is commonly used [by scientists].^[10] Humphry Davy, the element's discoverer, first proposed the name alumium, and then later aluminum. The name aluminium was finally adopted to conform with the -ium ending of metallic elements.^[11] Canada uses aluminum and Australia/New Zealand aluminium, according to their respective dictionaries.^[12]

arse ass

In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey"/"idiot" is ass in both. Both forms are found in Australia, New Zealand and to a limited extent in Canada ("ass" to a lesser extent in both countries also as a "non-vulgar replacement"). "Arse" is very rarely used in the US.

behove behoove

The 19th century had the spelling behove pronounced to rhyme with move.^[13] Subsequently, a pronunciation spelling was adopted in America, while in Britain a spelling pronunciation was adopted.

bogeyman boogeyman

It is pronounced /ˈboʊɡimæn/ BOH-gee-man in the UK, so that the American form, boogeyman /ˈbʊɡimæn/, is reminiscent of the 1970s disco dancing "boogie" to the British ear.

brent brant for the species of goose

carburettor carburetor UK: /ˌkɑrbəˈrɛtər/; US: /ˈkɑrbəreɪtər/.

charivari shivaree, charivari

In America, where both terms are mainly regional^[14], charivari is usually pronounced as shivaree, which is also found in Canada and Cornwall^[15], and is a corruption of the French word.

coupé coupe

For a two-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is coupé in both (meaning "cut"); unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always coupe. In the United States, the "e" is accented when it is used as a foreign word.

eyrie aerie

This noun (not to be confused with the adjective eerie) rhymes with weary and hairy respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in America.

fillet fillet, filet

Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way (approximately) in the US; Canada follows British pronunciation and distinguishes between fillet, especially as concerns fish, and filet, as concerns certains cuts of beef. McDonald's in the UK use the US spelling "filet" for their Filet-O-Fish.

furore furor

Furore is a late 18th-century Italian loan-word that replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the following century^[16], and is usually pronounced with a voiced e. The Canadian the same as the American, and Australia has both.^[17]

grotty grody

Clippings of grotesque; both are slang terms from the 1960s.^[18]

haulier hauler

Haulage contractor; haulier is the older spelling.^[19]

jemmy jimmy

In the sense "crowbar".

moustache mustache

In America, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, the British spelling is an also-ran, yet the pronunciation with second-syllable stress is a common variant. In Britain the second syllable is usually stressed.

mum(my) mom(my)

Mother. Mom is sporadically regionally found in the UK (e.g. in West Midlands English). Some British dialects have mam^[20], and this is often used in Northern English, Irish English, and Welsh English. In the American region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British pronunciation of mum is often retained, while it is still spelled mom. In Canada, there are both mom and mum; Canadians often say mum and write mom.^[21] In Australia and New Zealand, mum is used.

naïvety naïveté

The American spelling is from French, and American speakers generally approximate the French pronunciation as /nɑːiːv(ɨ)ˈteɪ/, whereas the British spelling is nativised, as also the pronunciation /nɑːˈiːv(ɨ)ti/. In the UK, naïveté is a minor variant, used about 20% of the time in the British National Corpus; in America, naivete and naiveté are marginal variants, and naivety is almost unattested.^[22][23]

pyjamas pajamas

The 'y' represents the pronunciation of the original Urdu "pāy-jāma", and in the 18th century spellings such as "paijamahs" and "peijammahs" appeared. Both "pyjamas" and "pajamas" are also known from the 18th century, but the latter became more or less confined to the US.^[24] Canada follows British usage; the spelling "pajamas" is virtually unknown.

pernickety persnickety

Persnickety is a late 19th-century American alteration of the Scots word pernickety.^[25]

quin quint

Abbreviations of quintuplet.

scallywag scalawag

In the United States (where the word originated, as scalawag)^[26], scallywag is not unknown.^[27]

sledge sled

speciality specialty

In British English the standard usage is speciality, but specialty occurs in the field of medicine^[28], and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, specialty prevails. In Australia both are current.^[29]

titbit tidbit

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest form was "tyd bit", and the alteration to "titbit" was probably under the influence of the obsolete word "tit", meaning a small horse or girl.