Comparison of American and British English
Differences in American and British English: 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 article is assumed to be the form of English spoken in south east England, used by the British Government and the BBC and widely understood in other parts of the United Kingdom. The section on Pronunciation assumes the Received Pronunciation of British English.
English usage in other countries has traditionally followed one model or the other. For example, British English is used in most of the Commonwealth, with the major exception of Canadian English. British English is also the dialect taught in most countries where English is not a native language, though there are a few exceptions where American English is taught, such as in the Philippines and in Japan. Ireland's version of english is often described as Hiberno-English and differs in some respects from British English, in so far as phrases and terms often owe their origin to the original Irish language (gaelic), which allowed for more variations in word structure.
Henry Sweet predicted in 1877 that within a century, American English, Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible, but it may be the case that increased world-wide communication through television, the Internet, or globalization has reduced the tendency to regionalisation. This can result either with some variations becoming extinct (as, for instance, apartment has been gradually displacing flat in much of the world) or that wide variations are accepted as "perfectly good English" everywhere.
In addition to its use in English-speaking countries, English is used as a technical language around the world, in medicine, computer science, air traffic control, and many other such areas of concentrated expertise and international user populations. Such speakers may be fluent in English within their discipline, but not generally fluent in English.
There are also many surviving dialects and local variations in English. Certainly the Alabama truck driver, the Highlands crofter, the Jamaican rapper, the Harvard professor, can all speak English, but they would have to work at it to talk among themselves. And the Finnish air traffic controller might still feel left out.
Spelling
Some words shared by all English speakers are spelled differently by Americans and Britons. Many of these are American "simplification" of the original spellings, often due to Noah Webster. In some cases, the American versions have found their way across the Atlantic and become common British usage as well, for example program (in the computing sense).
The Wikipedia:Manual of Style accepts both British and American spelling, although recommending American spelling for American subjects, and vice versa.
- Words ending in -our: British colour, favour, flavour, honour, humour, labour, savour, etc.; American color, favor, flavor, honor, etc. Also derivatives and inflected forms: British favourite, savoury; American favorite, savory.
- Words ending in -re: British centre, fibre, metre, theatre (showing an influence from French); American center, fiber, meter, theater. Britons use meter for a measuring device and metre for the unit of measure. The British forms are recognizable by Americans and occasionally found in American texts, though their usage may be considered an affectation. The official American spellings end in -re, but the American people use the -er spelling almost exclusively.
- Greek-derived words with ae and oe: British aeroplane, aesthetic, amoeba, anaesthesia, archaeology, diarrhoea, foetus, gynaecology, mediaeval, encyclopaedia; American airplane, esthetic, ameba, anesthesia, archeology, diarrhea, fetus, gynecology, medieval, encyclopedia. British manoeuvre seems to be a special case: its oe was not derived from Greek, but was apparently changed to maneuver in American English on the mistaken belief that it was. Some of the British forms are common in American usage as well, particularly aesthetic and amoeba, although esthetic and ameba do appear as well.
- Words ending in -gue: British analogue, catalogue, dialogue; American analog, catalog, dialog. The -gue forms are still common in some American usages such as demagogue.
- Words ending in -ise: British colonise, harmonise, realise; American colonize, harmonize, realize. However, while both the Oxford English Dictionary and Fowler's Modern English Usage prefer -ize, the norm is to use -ise as the standard orthographical practice. Derivatives and inflected forms: British realisation; American realization. Also: British analyse; American analyze.
- Words ending in -xion: British connexion, inflexion, reflexion, complexion; American connection, inflection, reflection, complection. The forms ending in -ction are common in British English, too.
- British English generally doubles final -l when adding postfixes that begin with a vowel, where American English doubles it only on stressed syllables. British counsellor, equalling, modelling, quarrelled, signalling, travelled; American counselor, equaling, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveled. But compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling in both, although Americans also use exceling, propeled, rebeling. British speakers also use a single l before postfixes beginning with a consonant where Americans use a double: British enrolment, fulfilment, skilful; American enrollment, fulfillment, skillful.
- British English often keeps silent e when adding postfixes where American English doesn't. British ageing, judgement, routeing; American aging, judgment, routing. Arguement is found in some places, though the form argument is universal in British English.
- Nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English retains the noun/verb distinction in advice / advise (pronouncing them differently), but has lost the same distinction with licence / license and practice / practise that British English retains. American English uses practice exclusively for both meanings, and license for both meanings (although licence is an accepted variant spelling). Also, British defence, offence, pretence; American defense, offense, pretense.
- Miscellaneous: British aluminium, artefact, cheque, disc, draught, gaol, grey, jewellery, kerb, mould, plough, pyjamas, programme, speciality, sulphur, tyre, carburettor; American aluminum, artifact, check, disk, draft, jail, gray, jewelry, curb, mold, plow, pajamas, program, specialty, sulfur, tire, carburetor. The word curb is used in British for the verb meaning "to lessen", but the edge of a roadway is always a kerb. British English uses both draught and draft, depending on the sense, and uses jail more often than gaol. The form program is normal in British English when referring to a computer program, but for other uses programme is usual. British use storey for a level of a building and story for a tale; Americans use story for both. Americans use vise for the tool and vice for the sin, while British use vice for both. The spelling grey is not uncommon in America.
Slight lexical differences
- Verb past tenses with -t: British dreamt, leapt, learnt, spelt; American dreamed, leaped, learned, spelled. As with the "tre" words, these are occasionally found in American texts. The forms with -ed are also common in British English. (The two-syllable form learned is still used to mean "educated" in British English.)
- Other verb past tense forms: British fitted, forecasted, knitted, lighted, wedded; American fit, forecast, knit, lit, wed. But the former forms are also found in American. However, lit and forecast are also the usual forms in British English. Also, the American participle gotten is never used in British English, which uses got (as do some Americans). British usage retains the forgotten form, though. Fitted is used in American as an adjective ("fitted sheets" are the same size as the mattress) and as the past tense of fit "to suffer epilepsy" ("Leavitt fitted" in The Andromeda Strain).
- Nouns of direction with -wards: British forwards, upwards, afterwards, etc.; American forward, upward, afterward. However, there is no real distinction here, as both forms are used in both dialects, except that afterward is rare in British English.
- In British English the word Sat is often used to cover sat, sitting and seated: "I've been sat here waiting for half an hour". "The bride's family will be sat on the right side of the church". Not all British people do this, but it is not often heard outside Britain. Similarly stood can be used instead of standing.
Grammar
- Collective nouns: Nouns like team and company that describe multiple people are often used with the plural form of a verb in British English, and with the singular form in American. British "the team are concerned"; American "the team is concerned".
- The singular they is frequently used in spoken British English. Though occurring less often in written British English it is more likely to be considered acceptable.
- Differences in which nouns are the same in both their plural and singular forms, such as the word sheep. In American English shrimp is such a word but with British English the plural of shrimp is shrimps. (Shrimps is occasionally heard in the southern U.S., but is otherwise rare, although used colloquially when used to (usually pejoratively) to refer to small people).
- In names of American rivers, the word 'river' usually comes after the name (for example, 'Colorado River'), whereas for British rivers it comes before (as in 'River Thames').
- The present perfect tense is much more common in British dialects than in American, where the simple past tense is usually used instead. For example, I've gone in British English; I went in American.
- several verb forms are used transitively in American, intransitively in British English: "I wrote John" in American vs "I wrote to John"; and "workers protested the cuts" vs "workers protested against the cuts"
Punctuation
- Periods in abbreviations - Americans tend to write "U.S.", "U.N.", "Mr.", "Mrs." etc., while most British will write "US", "UN", "Mr", "Mrs", etc.
- Quoting - Americans will usually put punctuation inside quotation marks ("hello world," I said), whereas Britons put the punctuation outside ("hello world", I said)
- Quoting - Americans start with double quotation marks (") and use single quotation marks (') for quotations within quotations. English generally do the opposite.
Note: The Wikipedia:Manual of Style splits the difference here, suggesting British style for punctuation and quotation marks, and American style for double and single quotation marks.
Vocabulary
The differences most likely to create confusion are in the use of different words for concepts. Most of these are for modern concepts where new words were coined independently, or else the terms are slang or vulgar. Regional variations even within the US or the UK can create the same problems.
It should also be noted that most American words can be freely interchanged with their British versions within the United Kingdom without leading to confusion. It tends to be only when the situation is reversed that problems occur. However, there are some exceptions, such as dumpster and stroller (in the sense of pushchair) which are unlikely to be understood by most speakers of British English.
Words only used in British English
| British | American |
| advocate | lawyer (distinction in Scots law) |
| aerial | antenna |
| arse | buttocks |
| barrister | lawyer (distinction in English law) |
| black pudding | blood sausage |
| blinkers | blinders |
| bloody | damn (for example, "This bloody car won't start.") |
| bollocks | testicles (bollocks is vulgar in British English) |
| bonnet (of a car) | hood |
| boot (of a car) | trunk |
| braces | suspenders |
| buggery | sodomy |
| bum bag | fanny pack |
| candy floss | cotton candy |
| concession | discount |
| crisps | chips (that is, potato or corn) |
| current account | checking account |
| engaged tone | busy signal |
| fairy cake | cupcake |
| flat | apartment |
| green fingers | green thumb |
| indicator | turn signal |
| laundrette | laundromat |
| lift | elevator or ride (in car) |
| lorry | truck (interchangeable in British English) |
| maths | math |
| MD (managing director) | CEO (Chief Executive Officer) |
| mobile (phone) | cell phone |
| nappy | diaper |
| oilseed rape | canola |
| paraffin | kerosene |
| petrol | gasoline |
| ponce | General derogatory term, usualy for a male. A pimp (usage mainly Northern England) or a fop. |
| pram | baby carriage |
| pudding | dessert (interchangeable in British English) |
| randy | horny (interchangeable in British English) |
| ring someone | call someone (interchangeable in British English) |
| roundabout | traffic circle or carousel |
| to rubbish | Rubbish as a verb means to slate or verbally abuse. |
| settee | couch (interchangeable in British English) |
| snogging | kissing / "making out" |
| solicitor | lawyer (distinct from an advocate in Scots Law or a barrister in English law) |
| spanner | wrench |
| sport | sports |
| sticking plaster | Band-Aid |
| text (often written 'txt', only used since about 1998) | SMS |
| tights | pantyhose |
| trapezium | trapezoid |
| tube | subway |
| underground | subway |
| valve | tube, or vacuum tube |
| waistcoat | vest |
| wank | masturbate (wank is vulgar in British English) |
| way out (on a sign) | exit |
| whilst | while (see below) |
The use of whilst instead of while is regional in speech, but whilst is nearly always used in official documents, signs and instructions. This is because in some Northern dialects, while means "until". Not knowing this caused a number of fatalities when automatic level (railway) crossings were first introduced with signs saying "do not cross the track while the lights are flashing"; people in the North waited for the flashing lights before crossing the line. Similarly instructions on equipment "do not press start while this cover is removed" have had to be changed for England.
Words only used in American English
Speakers of British English are generally aware of the American English term, but would not generally use it.
| American | British |
| blinders | blinkers |
| blood sausage | black pudding |
| busy signal | engaged tone |
| canola | oilseed rape |
| checking account | current account |
| cookie | biscuit |
| cotton candy | candy floss |
| cupcake | fairy cake |
| diner | cafe |
| dumpster | skip |
| fall | autumn |
| fanny pack ( N.B. : Do not use in UK!) | bum bag |
| faucet | tap |
| flashlight | torch |
| french fries | chips |
| garter belts | suspenders |
| gasoline | petrol |
| green thumb | green fingers |
| hood (of car) | bonnet |
| math | maths |
| normalcy | normality |
| pantyhose | tights |
| ride (in car) | lift |
| sports | sport |
| stroller | pushchair |
| tic-tac-toe | noughts and crosses |
| traffic circle | roundabout |
| trunk (of car) | boot |
| turn signal | indicator |
| undershirt | vest |
Words which have one meaning in British English and another in American English
| Word | British meaning | American meaning |
| ass | donkey, burro | butt (buttocks) |
| Asian | coming from India, Pakistan etc. | coming from China, Thailand etc. (in British these tend to be "Oriental") |
| band | a strap | a finger-ring |
| billion(*) | 1,000,000,000,000 (however, American meaning gaining influence) | 1,000,000,000 |
| bum | butt (buttocks) | hobo, homeless person |
| cafe | diner | French cafe |
| chemist | pharmacist, pharmacy | a person whose profession is chemistry (also British) |
| chips | french fries | crisps |
| chippy | carpenter or fish and chip shop | loose woman |
| biscuit | cracker or cookie | a pastry similar to a scone |
| dead beat, deadbeat | exhausted | welsher, someone who does not pay their debts |
| dummy | pacifier | mannequin, esp. for automobile crash tests (also British) |
| entrée | starter (first course) | main course |
| fag | cigarette | queer |
| fanny | pussy (vagina) | buttocks (not obscene) |
| first floor (of a building) | the floor above ground level | the floor at ground level |
| ground floor (of a building) | the floor at ground level | not used - American English uses 'first floor' |
| homely | (Of a house) Comfortable, cozy, rustic. (Of a person) Home-loving, domesticated, house-proud. | (Only used of a person) Ugly. |
| lounge | living room | verb: to laze about, to relax (also British) |
| muffler | scarf | silencer (on automobile/car) |
| momentarily | for a moment (for a short time) | in a moment (shortly) |
| outside lane | the lane closest to the median or central reservation. | the lane furthest from the median or central reservation. In both cases this will be the rightmost lane. |
| pants | underpants | trousers |
| pavement | sidewalk | asphalt; the road surface |
| pissed | drunk | angry (British used pissed off for this) |
| pud | short for pudding, as in "Christmas Pud" (rhymes with "good") | penis (rhymes with "mud") |
| quite good | mediocre, acceptable | excellent |
| rubber | eraser | condom |
| rubbish | garbage; trash | understood by Americans as a Britishism |
| shag | copulate | a type of carpet, or a kind of a dance |
| shop | store (retail) | workshop |
| silencer | silences car (automobile) | silences firearm |
| spunk | semen | courage, sauciness (though also sometimes used for semen) |
| suspenders | elasticated support for stockings | elasticated support for pants |
| tap | faucet | device for dispensing beer from a keg |
| vest | equivalent of as undershirt in US | equivalent of waistcoat in the UK |
| wash up | wash the dishes | wash your hands |
(*) see also English language numerals.
Pronunciation
The name of the letter Z is pronounced zed in British English (and most other European languages) as opposed to zee in American English, though the words are rarely spelled out in either. Some greek letters are also pronounced differently. For example, the British pronunciation of "theta" sounds a lot like the American pronunciation of theater, and British beta sounds a lot like the American pronunciation of beater.
Americans pronounce T's differently to Britons, often changing T sounds into softer D sounds between two vowel. More precisely, in American English, when either a 't' sound or a 'd' sound occurs between two vowels, it changes to a flap, similar to the 'r' in Spanish 'pero'. Consequently, to a speakers of both dialect groups, an American's pronunciation of atom and Adam are homophonous in casual speech. See linguistics and allophones more more information on this category of phenomenon.
Though most English accents pronounce the T's in words as a distinctive T it is common, particularly in Estuary English to replace the T with a glottal stop.
The vowels are also somewhat different. American English generally has a simplified vowel system as compared to the British dialects. In particular, with the exception of New England, Americans have lost the distinction between the vowels of awl and all, as well as caught and cot, tending to pronounce all of these with something between a long form of the sound in cot and the "a" of father.
The "a" of father is used in many British words, especially common ones, in two phonetic situations. Firstly, before three of the four voiceless fricatives, as in path, laugh, chaff, pass, past, though not before sh. Secondly, before some instances of n and another consonant, as in aunt, plant, dance. (Australian does not follow British in this second case.) But by no means all words follow this pattern, for example, ant is the same as in American. Some Americans differentiate between 'aunt' and 'ant', but some do not.
Most American dialects have not lost the non-prevocalic r. That is, "standard" American English preserves the sound of "r" in all occurrences, whereas British English only preserves it when it is followed by a vowel (see rhotic). However, this does not hold true for all American dialects nor for all British dialects; the dialects of New England and the American South both exhibit the same sound change found in southern England. This phenomenon also partially accounts for the interlocution of 'r' between a word ending in a vowel and one beginning with a vowel (such as "the idear of it") exhibited both in some dialects of Britain and in the Boston (USA) dialect of American English. Most other American dialects interpose a glottal stop where "r" appears in the Boston example, and appears to perform the same function of separating adjacent (non-dipthongized) vowels.
In American English, words of two or more syllables, where the first syllable ends with a single consonant, usually use the long vowel sound:
- Patriot, the a rhymes with the a in gate
- Zenith, the e rhymes with the ee in seen
In British English the short vowel sound is usually employed:
- Patriot, the a rhymes with the a in sat
- Zenith, the e rhymes with the e in bet
In both British and American English a double consonant ending the first syllable usually means the short vowel sound is used.
- Parrot, the a rhymes with the a in sat
Miscellaneous
Both British and American English use the expression "I couldn't care less" to mean the speaker does not care at all. In American English, "I could care less" (without the "n't") is synonymous with this, while in British English, "I could care less" is most certainly not synonymous with this, and might be interpreted as anything from nonsense to the speaker's expressing that he or she does care.