


Wherever the vowel is unreduced in pronunciation (e.g., contour, paramour, troubadour, and velour), the spelling is uniform everywhere.

Most words ending in an unstressed -our in British English (e.g., behaviour, colour, flavour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, rumour, splendour) end in -or in American English ( behavior, color, flavor, harbor, honor, humor, labor, neighbor, rumor, splendor). Latin-derived spellings (often through Romance) -our, -or There is an increasing use of macrons in words that originated in Māori and an unambiguous preference for -ise endings (see below). New Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling, except in the word fiord (instead of fjord). Australian spelling mostly follows British spelling norms but has strayed slightly, with some American spellings incorporated as standard. In Canada, the spelling system can be said to follow both British and American forms, and Canadians are somewhat more tolerant of foreign spellings when compared with other English-speaking nationalities. Later spelling adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on today's American spellings and vice versa.įor the most part, the spelling systems of most Commonwealth countries and Ireland closely resemble the British system. In Britain, the influence of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of words proved to be decisive. Webster did attempt to introduce some reformed spellings, as did the Simplified Spelling Board in the early 20th century, but most were not adopted. William Shakespeare's first folios, for example, used spellings such as center and color as much as centre and colour. Rather he chose already existing options such as center, color and check for the simplicity, analogy or etymology". He was very influential in popularizing certain spellings in America, but he did not originate them. In A Companion to the American Revolution (2008), John Algeo notes: "it is often assumed that characteristically American spellings were invented by Noah Webster. Webster was a proponent of English spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Today's British English spellings mostly follow Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), while many American English spellings follow Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language ("ADEL", "Webster's Dictionary", 1828). These differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries.

In the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent.
