American and British English spelling differences: Encyclopedia - American and British English spelling differences

American and British English spelling differences

The differences in the spellings of British English and American English are as follows:

Many of the differences were introduced into the United States by Noah Webster's dictionary; he was a strong proponent of spelling reform for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical. There were many advocates of spelling reform in England as well, but the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or French) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Some of the changes in American spelling were largely phonemic, while others involved the restoration of "etymologically correct" Latin (or Greek) spellings, often to words which English had borrowed from French (or indirectly, Greek) – color, Gk.διαλογος → Fr. couleur, dialogue → British English colour, dialogue. At the time, spelling in English was not regular, and Webster was eager to distinguish American usage from British usage – and in some cases to create distinctions. Although many of Webster's spellings became standardized in the U.S., only a few spread to other English-speaking countries, which were more influenced by Samuel Johnson's dictionary. (Webster's more radical suggestions for spelling reform made in his younger days, such as the dropping of silent "e" at the end of words, were adopted nowhere.) However, in some cases the American versions have become common Commonwealth usage, such as 'disk' in the sense of magnetic digital media.

British spellings are generally viewed in the United States as archaic, or elegant and refined, and are thus sometimes used in commerce (e.g. "centre", "glamour").

American and British English spelling differences - Spelling and pronunciation

In a few miscellaneous cases, essentially the same word has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation:

American and British English spelling differences - Latin-derived spellings

American and British English spelling differences - -our / -or

Many words ending in -or in American English have an additional vowel, u, in Commonwealth English: -our. For example, in American English, one would use color, flavor, honor, whereas in Commonwealth English one would use colour, flavour and honour. In addition, American English uses "o" in derivatives and inflected forms such as favorite, savory, whereas this is favourite, savoury in Commonwealth English. Note that savoury only applies to the meaning ‘tasty’; the herb is (summer) savory in all spellings. One seeming exception (the word comes from Scots, not Latin or French) to this distinction is glamour, which can be spelled that way in American English, and is always spelled that way in Commonwealth English. Squalor is accepted as being correctly spelled in both languages. In both systems, the adjectival forms that end in -ous are spelled without the u in the stem (for example, glamorous, vigorous, humorous and laborious) as are certain other compounds (invigorate, humorist but (Commonwealth) colourist). Noah Webster believed this resulted in unnecessary complexity, since with most words in Commonwealth English, one can't simply add -ous or -ist to the noun to create the adjective, one must first subtract the u (which one must do only with a few words in American English). Words in which the stress falls on the "our", such as hour, our, flour, velour, and sour, are the same in both usages. Also note that words with Latin-derived agentive endings, such as professor and conductor, now never end in -our or -eur (historically -our was more common, for example, chancellour and governour), despite the corresponding French forms professeur and conducteur. The word saviour has retained the u in Commonwealth English because of the preceding i.

American and British English spelling differences - -re / -er

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

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

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

American and British English spelling differences - -ce / -se

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

American and British English spelling differences - -xion / -ction

The spellings connexion, inflexion, deflexion, reflexion are now somewhat rare, perhaps understandably as their stems are connect, inflect, deflect, and reflect and there are many such words in English that result in a -tion ending. The more common connection, inflection, deflection, reflection have almost become the standard internationally.

However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists the older spellings as the etymological form, since these four words actually derive from the Latin root -xio.

In both forms, complexion is used in preference to complection, as it comes from the stem complex in British and in American English, although one sees both "complected as in dark-complected", and "complexioned", with about the same frequency. The words crucifix and crucifixion are also the same. (Etymologically, the spelling crucifiction would in any case mean not “fixing to a cross” (Lat. figere) but “moulding into a cross” (Lat. fingere)). British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling "connexion" to describe its national organisation, for historical reasons, and this spelling has also found favour amongst recent government initiatives such as connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until around 1984 and 1985, The Times of London also used "connexion" as part of its house style.

American and British English spelling differences - Greek-derived spellings

American and British English spelling differences - -ise / -ize

American spelling accepts only colonize, harmonize, and realize. These -ize spellings are sometimes used in the Commonwealth as well, but most Commonwealth writers and publications use colonise, harmonise, and realise instead. Although most authoritative Commonwealth sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary and Fowler's Modern English Usage, prefer -ize, some give the -ise spelling first, including the Australian Macquarie Dictionary. The same pattern—the spelling -s- in Commonwealth only, -z- in either Commonwealth or American—applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation and colonization.

Endings in -yze are possible only in American English. Thus, Commonwealth analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse, paralyse; American analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze, paralyze.

Mind 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 (to value: but the sense "to lever open" is in the Commonwealth usually prise), whereas others take only -s-: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, and disguise.

American and British English spelling differences - -ogue / -og

Commonwealth analogue, catalogue, dialogue; American analog, catalog, dialog; and inflected forms: American cataloging, Commonwealth cataloguing. This applies with any consistency only to the various words ending in -log(ue) deriving from Greek λογος, although the -ue can be dropped in any word where there is a short o preceding the g: demagog(ue), pedagog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), etc. All the -gue forms are also relatively common in the United States, especially dialogue, which is the preferred variant in Merriam-Webster's dictionaries. Other words ending in -gue in Commonwealth usage generally retain -gue in America; for example, vogue, rogue, plague, intrigue, fugue, colleague, tongue, harangue.

American and British English spelling differences - 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 [i] or [ɛ] (or unstressed [ə]). Examples (with non-American letter in bold): anaemia, anaesthesia, caesium, diarrhoea, gynaecology, haemophilia, leukaemia, oesophagus, oestrogen, orthopaedic, paediatric. Words where British usage varies include encyclopaedia, foetus, homoeopathy, mediaeval. Words where American usage varies include aesthetic and oenology. Archaeology retains the a in both versions, although the ligature is usually dropped. This difference is also half of the distinction between British manoeuvre and American maneuver.

The Ancient Greek diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliterated into Latin as <ae> and <oe>. The ligatures æ and œ were introduced when the sounds became monophthongs, and later applied to words not of Greek origin, in both Latin (for example, fœtus) and French (for example, œuvre). In English, which has imported words from all three languages, it is now usual to replace Æ/æ with Ae/ae and Œ/œ with Oe/oe. In many cases, the digraph has been reduced to a single e in all varieties of English: for example, oeconomics, praemium. In others, especially names, it is retained in all varieties: for example, phoenix, Caesar, Oedipus. There is no reduction of Latin -ae plurals (e.g. larvae); nor where the digraph <ae>/<oe> does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, maelstrom, toe. British aeroplane is an instance (compare other aero- words such as aerosol). American airplane is not a respelling but a recoining, modelled on airship and aircraft. Airplane dates from 1907, at which time aero- was trisyllabic, often written aëro-.

American and British English spelling differences - Common suffixes

Commonwealth English generally doubles final -l when adding suffixes that begin with a vowel if -l is preceded by a single vowel, whereas American English doubles it only on stressed syllables. (Thus American English treats -l the same as other final consonants, whereas Commonwealth English treats it irregularly.) Commonwealth counsellor, equalling, modelling, quarrelled, signalling, travelled; American usually counselor (but chancellor), equaling, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveled.

• But compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling in both (notice the stress difference); revealing, fooling (double vowel before the l); hurling (consonant before the l).
• But Commonwealth fuelling, woollen; American fueling, woolen.
• Commonwealth writers also use a single l before suffixes beginning with a consonant where Americans use a double: Commonwealth enrolment, fulfilment (but fulfilled), instalment, skilful; American enrollment, fulfillment, installment, skillful. The infinitives of these verbs are also different: in the Commonwealth, they are to enrol, fulfil and instal (although install is also common), whereas in the USA, they are to enroll, fulfill and install.
• Commonwealth English often keeps silent e when adding suffixes where American English doesn't. British usually ageing, routeing; American aging, routing. Both systems retain the silent e when necessary to preserve a soft c or g: traceable, judgement (although judgment is also standard in both Commonwealth and American English).

American and British English spelling differences - Miscellaneous spelling differences

Proper names formed as acronyms are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef / UNICEF. This never applies to initialisms, such as USA or HTML.

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

Commonwealth English also uses draught for the game of draughts (Americans call it checkers).

* American spellings which predominate in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "American and British English spelling differences", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki