Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same … See more

In the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after the publication of influential dictionaries. Today's British English spellings mostly follow Johnson's A Dictionary … See more

Most words ending in an unstressed ‑our in British English (e.g., behaviour, colour, favour, flavour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, rumour, splendour) end in ‑or in American English (behavior, color, favor… See more

Many words, especially medical words, that are written with ae/æ or oe/œ in British English are written with just an e in American English. The sounds in question are /iː/ or /ɛ/ (or, unstressed, /i/, /ɪ/ or /ə/). Examples (… See more

The -ize spelling is often incorrectly seen in Britain as an Americanism. It has been in use since the 15th century, predating the -ise spelling by over a century. The verb-forming suffix -ize comes directly from Ancient Gr… See more

The plural of the noun bus is usually buses, with busses a minor American variant. Conversely, inflections of the verb bus usually double the s in British usage (busses, bussed, bussing) but not American u… See more