British and American English

British English and American English have numerous differences in the areas of vocabulary, spelling, and phonology. This article compares standard British, which includes the accent known as Received Pronunciation, or RP, and standard American speech, in this case using Midland American English, which is usually perceived to be the least marked American dialect. Grammatical and lexical differences between British and American English are, for the most part, common to all dialects, but there are many regional differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, usage and slang, some subtle, some glaring, some rendering a sentence incomprehensible to a speaker of another variant.

American and British English both diverged from a common ancestor, and the evolution of each language is tied to social and cultural factors in each land. Cultural factors can affect one's understanding and enjoyment of language; consider the effect that slang and double entendre have on humour. A joke is simply not funny if the pun upon which it is based can't be understood because the word, expression or cultural icon upon which it is based does not exist in one's variant of English.

But it is not only humour that is affected. Items of cultural relevance change the way English is expressed locally. A person can say "I was late, so I Akii-Bua'd (from John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler) and be understood all over East Africa, but receive blank stares in Australia. Even if the meaning is guessed from context, the nuance is not grasped; there is no resonance of understanding. English is a flexible and quickly-evolving language; it simply absorbs and includes words and expressions for which there is no current English equivalent; these become part of the regional English. American English has hundreds of loan words acquired from its immigrants: these can eventually find their way into widespread use, (spaghetti, mañana), or they can be restricted to the areas in which immigrant populations live. So there can be variances between the English spoken in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Thanks to Asian immigration, a working-class Londoner asks for a cuppa cha and receives the tea he requested. This would probably be understood in Kampala and New Delhi as well, but not necessarily in Boise, Idaho.

Cultural exchange also has an impact on language. For example, it is possible to see a certain amount of Americanization in the British English of the last 50 years. This influence is not entirely one-directional, though, as, for instance, the previously BrE 'flat' for 'apartment' has gained in usage among American twentysomethings. Similarly the American pronunciation of 'aunt' has changed during the last two decades, and it is considered classier to pronounce 'aunt' in the Commonwealth manner, even for speakers who continue to rhyme 'can't' and 'shan't' with 'ant'. Australian English is based on the language of the Commonwealth, but has also blended indigenous, immigrant and American imports.

Applying these same phenomena to the rest of the English-speaking world, and it becomes clear that though the "official" differences between Commonwealth and American English can be more or less delineated, the English language can still vary greatly from place to place.

Vocabulary

British	American
abseil	rappel
anticlockwise	counterclockwise
aubergine	egg plant
autumn	fall, autumn
barrister [courtroom representation]	lawyer
beetroot	beet
behove	behoove
bill	bill, check
bonnet	hood
boot [of a car]	trunk
braces	suspenders
brackets (round brackets)	parentheses
break [school]	recess
car-park	parking lot
chemist	drugstore
chips (chipped potatoes)	French fries
cinema	movie theatre
claret	Bordeaux (wine)
cockerel, cock	rooster
cornflour	cornstarch
cotton [sewing]	thread
courgette	zucchini
crisps (potato crisps)	chips (potato chips)
crossroads	intersection
curriculum vitae (CV)	résumé
curtains	drapes, draperies, curtains
dishcloth, tea towel	dishcloth, dishrag
drawing room [mostly obsolete: class connotations]	living room
dual carriageway	divided highway, freeway, Interstate
dustbin	trash can, garbage can
dustman	garbage collector, garbageman
eiderdown	comforter
estate agent	real estate agent, realtor
estate car, estate wagon	station wagon
film	movie
flat	flat, apartment
fortnight, two weeks	two weeks
football (Association football), soccer	soccer
foyer	lobby
full stop	period
garden	yard
give way [road sign]	yield
grill	broil
guard’s van	caboose
hire	rent
hock	Rhine wine (white)
holiday	vacation
hoover	vacuum cleaner
ironmonger, ironmongery	hardware dealer, hardware
jumper	sweater
knickers	panties
lift	elevator
lend	loan (as a verb)
lorry	truck
main subject [in education]	major
maize	corn [one type]
marrow	squash
maths	math
motorway	Interstate, divided highway, freeway
mud guard	fender [of a bike]
nappy	diaper
off-licence	liquor store
pants, underpants	underwear, underpants
pavement	sidewalk
petrol(eum)	gasoline, gas
plane (aeroplane)	plane (airplane)
plaster (sticking plaster)	Band-Aid™, adhesive bandage
primary school	elementary school
queûe, queue up	stand in line, wait in line
railway	railway, railroad
road	road, pavement
rubber	eraser
rubbish	trash, garbage
rug	blanket
rusticated, sent down	expelled, kicked out (of school)
sacked	fired
saloon	sedan
subsidiary subject, secondary subject [in education]	minor
silencer [car]	muffler
skip	dumpster
solicitor [mainly deskwork; cf barrister]	lawyer
spanner	wrench
subway	pedestrian tunnel
swede [vegetable]	turnip, rutabaga [depending on region]
sweets	candy
sweetshop	candy store
tap [water]	faucet
tarmac(adam)	tar
tea [sometimes]	supper, dinner
tick [box in writing]	check
tiffin	lunch, luncheon
timber	lumber
tin	can
tomato sauce, ketchup	ketchup
torch [with a battery]	flashlight
trainers	sneakers
treacle	molasses
trousers	trousers, pants
underground	subway
vest	undershirt
waistcoat	vest
windscreen	windshield
wing	fender [of a car]
wood louse	pill bug
Z [unofficially 'zed']	zee

Usage

• The expression 'I guess', meaning 'I think', common in AmE, is not used in BrE.
• In British, one goes 'to hospital' or 'to university'; in American, one goes 'to the hospital' or 'to the university'. However, one goes 'to college' in both.
• American English generally prefers the singular for collective nouns: 'the government is considering' where British has 'the government are...' Thus, while 'the United States is topping the medals table', 'England are losing another Test Match'.
• Toss and flip: in British English, one tosses a coin, but in American, it is usually flipped.
• In British, an ass (rarely used nowadays) is a donkey or a fool; in American it is used instead of 'arse'.
• In British, mad means crazy; in American angry.
• In British, to wash up, or to do the washing up, is to do the dishes; in American however it is to wash oneself, where BrE would say to wash one's face or have a wash.
• What Americans call public schools are in Britain 'state schools', because 'public school' is the British term for a traditional fee-paying upper-class private school, of which Eton is the most famous example.
• 'Uptown' and 'downtown' are not widely used outside America. In British English, the former is rendered variously as 'in the suburbs' or 'on the outskirts', 'suburban' or 'residential', whichever is most appropriate. 'Downtown' is the city or town centre.

Spelling

There are a number of spelling differences, some systemic (most notably in suffixes), and others in individual words.

Suffixes

The most striking differences between the spelling of AmE and BrE are in these suffixes (the accents, which are not used in English, show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings for a table and English phonemes for a comparison with the International Phonetic Alphabet):

British	-	American	-
-ence	defénce	-ense	defénse
	lîcence noun		lîcense
	offénce		offénse
l + l + suffix	dîalling	-l + suffix	dîaling
	trávelled		tráveled
	màrvellous		màrvelous
-l	fulfíl	-ll	fulfíll
	enrôl		enrôll
	instål		inståll
	instíl		instíll
-ógue	cátalogue	-óg	cátalog
	dîalogue		dîalog
	démagogue		démagog
-our	clámour	-or	clámor
	còlour		còlor
	fâvour		fâvor
	flâvour		flâvor
	harbour		harbor
	hónour		hónor
	lâbour		lâbor
	ráncour		ráncor
	(Many words, however, have -or in both: dóctor, asséssor, sqùalor.)
-p + suffix	kídnapping	-pp + suffix	kídnáping
	wörshípped		wörshíped
-re	céntre	-er	cénter
	mêtre length		mêter
	manoeûvre		maneûver (also no o)
	ôchre (ch as k)		ôcher (ch as k)
	scéptre		scépter
	thêatre		thêater
	(But in both, mêter machine, not distance, eûchre *yûker)
-tt + suffix	carburétted	-t + suffix	carburéted

-ise and -ize

Spellings with -ise are common in British English, but -ize has been for centuries the standard spelling of Oxford University Press (in contrast to Cambridge UP which uses -ise) and there is some evidence to suggest that the -ise variant predominated in the UK only after 1945; thus, a spelling such as 'realize' is not a good example of an 'American' spelling. The typical 'British' spelling reflects the French spelling from which these words were borrowed, though many originally came from Greek -ιζειν (-izein, with a zeta) via Latin. Some words, such as 'advertise', can supposedly only be spelt with -s- regardless of which side of the Atlantic they are used; however, spellings such as 'advertize' are readily found nowadays.

ae and oe become e

In Latin and Greek words where British has ae or oe, AmE usually has a solitary e: aesthétic becomes esthétic and foêtus becomes fêtus.

Other spellings

Other individual spelling variations are:

British	American
ádze	ádz
alumínium	alûminum
ánalyse	ánalyze
áxe	áx
chéque money	chéck all meanings
connéxion, connéction	connéction only (cf. compléxion in both)
côsy	côzy
diaérisis (both *dî-érisis)	diérisis
dràught cold, net, liquids, game, horse	dráft all meanings
fíllet	fílet
furŏrê	fûrŏr
grèy	grây
jeŵellery	jeŵelry
júdgement	júdgment
largésse *larzhéss	can also be largéss
mîc microphone	mîke (both = Mîke Michael)
môuld	môld
moustàche	mústache
múm mother	mòm
ómelette	ómelet
páralyse	páralyze
plòugh	plòw
práctíse verb (BrE noun is práctíce)	práctíce: AmE uses only práctíce, reflecting the pronunciation (not -î-).
prôgramme arts	prógram
pyjàmas	pajàmas
refléxion, refléction	refléction only (cf. compléxion in both)
roûble	rûble
scéptical	sképtical
skílful	skíllful
súlphur, súlphate, súlphide	súlfur, súlfate, súlfide
tŷre car	tîre car, tired
wílful	wíllful

Also: dôve is an American alternative to dîved as past tense of dîve, with the same spelling as the bird dòve; matinée (pronounced mátinèe) normally has a written é accent in BrE but no accent in AmE.

The spelling dísc is preferred in Britain, while American prefers dísk, mainly confining the -c spelling to musical recordings. [1]

Initial capital letters

'Champagne' and 'Cointreau' have initial capitals in American English, as they are proprietary names; in British they both normally begin with a lower-case letter.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations discussed here are standard British (also called Received Pronunciation), which is associated with London and the Home Counties, and General American, heard in much of the United States and Canada.

Postvocalic r

Most strikingly, ‘postvocalic’ r, that is to say r after a vowel and in the same syllable, is silent in BrE, but pronounced in AmE, in words like fàrm, càrve, cürve, swërve, fïrst, nŏrth, cŏrd, bïrth, ëarth. For some speakers of both, it is heard finally before a vowel in the next word: 'My car isn't ready' ('rizzent') and even an invisible r can be heard: 'relations between China(r)and Russia'; this however is less common in BrE than it used to be.

An r between two vowels can have an effect on the first vowel: márry can sound like Mãry. The e in véry can sound like a stressed schwa. BrE has ór before a vowel but AmE always has ŏr: BrE órifice, órigin, fóreign, AmE ŏrifice, ŏrigin, fŏreign.

A word like móral can in AmE sound like *mŏrrl. BrE úr is AmE ür: BrE coúrage, cúrrency AmE coürage, cürrency and BrE òr is similarly altered: BrE wòrry AmE wörry.

a

BrE à is very often in AmE a long á: cán’t, lást, fást, hálf, ráther, láther. But not in fàther, Coloràdo, Chicàgo (Sh-), pajàmas (BrE pyjàmas) nor before r: fàrm, stàrve nor before -lm: càlm, pàlm, bàlm. And in some place names where BrE has á, à is preferred by many Americans: one hears Milàn, Vietnàm, Ugànda and Ànkara.

The suffix -ary has a silent a in traditional BrE, but in AmE it is sounded as é: díctionary, vocábulary (*dícshənéry, vəcábyəléry). Indeed, featuring as it does in so much in pop music, the AmE sound has become increasingly common in BrE, and this is also the sound of both varieties in the equivalent adverbs: necessarily (*néssəssérily). Similarly in BrE labóratory AmE láboratŏry one o is stressed, rendering the other redundant: BrE *labóratry, AmE *lábratŏry. Similarly cátegŏry, perémptŏry in AmE, and also céremôny, álimôny and ácrimôny where BrE has o as schwa. However, both varieties have a schwa sound for the a when the preceding syllable is the stressed one: suppleméntary (*súpləméntəry), compliméntary (*compləméntəry).

BrE åu and åw are AmE àu and àw: BrE åwful, låw, cåught, AmE àwful, làw, càught, but BrE AmE wår, AmE wårrior BrE ẁarrior. BrE ŏught and is AmE *ót or *àt; similarly with cåught, bŏught, fŏught and other words with this ending (see English spellings, Retroalphabetical List).

Short o

The [ɒ] (ó) vowel in BrE hot does not exist for the vast majority of AmE speakers, as it developed following the establishment of colonies in the New World (Australians do use it, since Australia was colonised later). AmE may employ a variety of vowels in this position, depending on the phonological context and the speaker's regional background - [ɔ], [ɑ] or others in roughly the same area of the mouth, low and towards the back. They also make distinctions through the use of r, which for BrE speakers are homophonous: court and caught both use [ɔː], whereas AmE speakers pronounce the r in the former: [kɔɹt] and [kɔt], for example. So also, American hót sounds like British heàrt.

wh-

In words beginning wh- (apart from who, which is pronounced *hoô in both varieties) the h is ignored in BrE but sounded before the w in AmE, so that whén and whístle are pronounced *hwén and *hwíssle.

-ile

The suffix -île in BrE is usually schwa in AmE so that vólatîle becomes *vólatle, stérîle *stérral, frágîle *frájle and míssîle *míssle, sounding like míssal prayers.

-duce

The suffix -dûce, as in redûce, indûce, prodûce verb and próduce noun is dyoôss or -joôss in BrE but -doôss in AmE.

-age

In three similar words from French, where BrE has an anglicised version, AmE prefers to keep the French model, so á in the first syllable cedes its stress to the suffix -àge (this is not to be confused with the cockney pronunciation of 'garage' as 'garridge', for example):

British	American
bárràge (-àzh)	barràge (*bəràzh)
gáràge (-àzh)	garàge (*gəràzh)
mássàge (-àzh)	massàge (*məssàzh)

-t- and -d- between vowels

In AmE -t- and -d- between vowels, of which the first vowel is stressed, are voiced and sound like -d-, though actually the sound is a [ɾ] (a 'tap' or 'flap', i.e. a very rapid contact just behind the top front teeth): lâter, *lâ[ɾ]er, bútter, *bú[ɾ]er, lítter, *lí[ɾ]er, shoôting, *shoô[ɾ]ing; BrE speakers keep these as -t- or -d-. In AmE twénty, -t- blends with the n and disappears altogether. The 'flap' often appears as the Scottish English pronunciation of /r/. BrE speakers often partially or completely 'glottalise' -t- where AmE speakers produce a flap. This glottal stop [ʔ] is common in London English, for example: bu[ʔ]er 'butter'. It also often replaces /t/ at the end of a syllable: ca[ʔ] 'cat'. The glottal stop, which is formed by the vocal cords briefly coming together to restrict airflow, is not a phoneme of English and so speakers will usually identify it as a variant of -t-.

-euse

This ending has two pronunciations in AmE: in words such as AmE masseûse, the final e can also be sounded: chanteûsê. BrE has only the French-style massëuse, rhyming with the masculine plural form massëurs.

Other pronunciations

Other individual differences are as follows (= means that the pronunciation is the same):

British	American
addréss	áddress
ádult	adúlt
advërtísement	ádvertîsement (cf. ádvertise in both)
alumínium	alûminum (different spelling, too)
Al-Qàêda (-Kŷda, or stress on ê)	Al-Qâeda
ámateur (eur as schwa: ámətə)	ámateur also; or various more phonetic variants, typically ámateûr (*ámatyure)
ámbergrìs	ámbergrís
amen *à-mén	*â-mén
ántì-	ántî-
ápparâtus (either stressed)	apparátus
áristocrat	arístocrat
ásthma (*ássma)	*ázma
àunt	áunt uncle (= ánt insect)
authóritative	authŏritâtive
Baghdád	Bághdad
báton	batón
Bërnard	Bernàrd, generally, although not always
bêta	bèta
bòrough (*búrə)	bòrôugh town (= búrrow ground)
càdre (-der)	càdrè
cándidate (-ət)	cándidâte
capíllary (kəp-)	cápillãry
Caribbêan (*Cárri-bêən)	Caríbbêan (-bêən)
Cécil (*Séssle)	Cêcil (*Sêazle)
cérebral	cerêbral
chágrín (sh-)	chagrìn (*shəgrêen)
charàde (sh-)	charâde (sh-)
cigarétte	cígarette
clìchè	clichè (where the American is closer to the French; the French accent may be written: cliché)
cómplex	compléx
cómrâde	cómráde
córrugate	cörrugate
coyôtê	*kîôte
dâta	dáta
Dâvíes (= Dâvis)	Dâvìês (-êez)
débris (*débrêe or dâybrêe)	*dəbrêe; the French accent may be written: débris
depot	AmE dêpo, BrE déppo
derby (à)	dërby
defénce	dêfense (this pronunciation is for sport only, but always the different spelling)
dêtail	detâil
dôcîle	dócile (*dóssle)
dýnasty	dŷnasty
económic, -al, -s (ê-)	(é-)
Edinburgh (-brə)	(-bórô)
eîther	êither
entreprenëur	entrepreneûr (both ón-)
êra	éra (= BrE érror)
erâse (-z)	erâse (-s)
ërr	érr
évidently	evidéntly
explêtive	éxpletive
fålcon	fálcon
fígure (*fígə)	(can be *fígyùr)
fíllet rhymes with bíllet, t pronounced	*filây (after French)
furŏrê	fûror (different spelling, too)
gàla	gâla
génuíne	génuîne
gêyser water (= gêezer man)	geŷser
grimâce	grímace
hárass	haráss
hegémony (híg-)	hégemôny (héj-)
hërb	*ërb
húrricane (a as schwa: -cən)	hürricâne
ídyll idyllic	îdyll = îdle lazy = îdol god
improvisâtion (o as schwa, -əvî-)	improvisâtion (-óví-)
inquîry = enquîry	ínquiry = enquiry (*ínkwəry)
îron (*îən)	(*îrən or *îərn)
jágûar (*jágyûə)	jáguàr (*jágwàr)
kílomêtre	kilómeter (different spelling, too)
Kósovo	Kôsovo
labóratory	láboratŏry
Lébanon (-ən)	Lébanón
léisure	lêisure
lêver	léver
lieuténant (léft-)	(lût-)
massëuse (after French)	masseûse
Maurice (= Mórris)	Maurìce (*Mərìs, after French)
mãyor town (= mãre horse)	mâyor
médicine (*médsən)	(*médísən)
moôg	*môag (can be capital M in both)
Móscôw	can be Móscòw
moustàche (*məstàsh)	mústache (*mústásh, also different spelling)
múltì-	múltî-
Mùslim	Múslim
nåusea (-zìə)	(-shə)
neîther	nêither
nónchalant (ch as sh)	*nonshalàn
óccult	occúlt
offénce	óffense (sport only, but always)
paêdo-	pédo- (different spelling, too)
páprika	paprìka
partisán (-zán)	pàrtisan (-zən)
pâtent	pátent
pátronize, -ise	pâtronize, -ise
përfume	perfûme
prêdecessor	prédecessor
prémier government	premìêr (= premìêre)
prémiére performance	premìêre (= premìêr)
prívacy	prîvacy (but prîvate in both)
prôcess	prócess
prôgress noun	prógress noun: progréss verb in both
Pûerto Rìco (Pŏr-)	Puérto Rìco (Pwãir-)
qùadruplet (second u as schwa)	quadrûplet (similarly with quínt- etc.)
râbid	rábid
récŏrd noun (rhyming with cŏrd)	récord (o as schwa: -kərd)
renâissànce	rénaissànce
resëarch	rêsëarch
resŏurce	rêsource
réspîte	réspíte
roûte journey (= roôt plant)	ròute (= ròut victory)
sándwich (-ídge)	(-ích)
scenàrio	scenãrio
schédule (shé-)	(ské-)
simultâneous (sí-)	(sî-)
spínach (-ídge)	(-ích)
stâtus	státus
stràta	strâta (= BrE strâighter)
stràtum	strâtum
thòrough (*thúrə)	thòrôugh
tomàto	tomâto [cf. potâto in both, ‘potàto’ being an invention of Cole Porter]
vàse (-z)	vâse (*vâce, rhyming with báse)
vërmouth	vermoûth
vítamin	vîtamin
wåltz (-lss)	wåltz as spelt
yógurt	yôgurt

See also

• British English
• American English
• English language
• Commonwealth English
• English spellings