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A "British standard" began to emerge following the 1755 publication of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language, and an "American standard" started following the work of Noah Webster and, in particular, his An American Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1828. [1]
This is a list of British English words that have different American English spellings, for example, colour (British English) and color (American English). Word pairs are listed with the British English version first, in italics, followed by the American English version: spelt, spelled; Derived words often, but not always, follow their root.
As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing colour with color, waggon with wagon, and centre with center. He also added American words, including skunk and squash, that did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of 70 ...
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (MWD) Merriam-Webster: 1828 18th (rev., ISBN 978-0877790952) 2022 (25.10) 960 (mass-market) 75,000 American: Diacritical: New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) Oxford University Press: 2001 3rd (ISBN 0-19-539288-4) 2010 2,096 350,000 American: Diacritical: Oxford Dictionary of English: Oxford University Press: 1998
The Columbia University Guide to Standard American English states that theater is used except in proper names. [16] tyre – tire: In American and Canadian English, tire is used to refer to fatigue and the inflated rim of a wheel. In British and other forms of English, tire means "to fatigue" and tyre is the inflated rim of a wheel.
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, center, Gk.διαλογος → Fr. couleur, centre, dialogue → British English colour, centre, dialogue.
Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-618-00275-7. Hargraves, Orin (2003). Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515704-8.
Words with specific American meanings that have different meanings in British English and/or additional meanings common to both dialects (e.g., pants, crib) are to be found at List of words having different meanings in British and American English. When such words are herein used or referenced, they are marked with the flag [DM] (different ...