British/American spelling differences
Appendix 10 British/American spelling differences
British spelling | American spelling | Examples of British/American spellings | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
-ae- | -e- | aestivate/estivate aetiology/etiology anaesthetic/anesthetic haemoglobin/hemoglobin leukaemia/leukemia | Beware aero- words, which are the same in UK and US spellings, e.g. aerofoil, anaerobic |
-oe- | -e- | oestrogen/estrogen oesophagus/esophagus oedema/edema diarrhoea/diarrhea dyspnoea/dyspnea manoeuvre/maneuver | |
-re | -er | centre/center fibre/fiber litre/liter metre/meter titre/titer | |
-our | -or | behaviour/behavior colour/color humour/humor tumour/tumor | Note that ‘tumor’ is becoming the standard international spelling in gene and protein names (e.g. tumor necrosis factor) |
-logue | -log | analogue/analog catalogue/catalog dialogue/dialog homologue/homolog | Note that -logue forms are sometimes used in US texts |
-lyse | -lyze | analyse/analyze catalyse/catalyze hydrolyse/hydrolyze haemolyse/hemolyze | Applies only for verbs derived from ‘lysis’ |
-ical | -ic | anatomical/anatomic biological/biologic morphological/morphologic serological/serologic | Note that -ical forms are often used in US texts |
-ence | -ense | defence/defense offence/offense licence (n.)/license pretence/pretense | |
-l | -ll | fulfil/fulfill enrol/enroll distil/distill instalment/installment | But beware, e.g., install/install, compel/compel, which are spelled the same in British and American English |
-lled, -lling, -eller | -led, -ling, -eler | labelled/labeled labelling/labeling modelled/modeled modelling/modeling modeller/modeler travelled/traveled travelling/traveling traveller/traveler | |
-trophic, -trophin | -tropic, -tropin | adrenocorticotrophic/adrenocorticotropic gonadotrophin/gonadotropin thyrotrophin/thyrotropin | Words suffixed by ‘-trophic’ meaning nourishment (e.g. heterotrophic) are spelled the same in British and American English, as are words suffixed by ‘-tropic’ meaning directional growth (e.g. geotropic) |
