What Are the Differences Between British English and American English?

There are seven English-speaking countries in the world. They are South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, The United States, Canada, The UK., and the Republic of Ireland. We all speak a common language, but in a different way. The British find it funny how Americans speak, but it's also the same way for Americans to the British.

How are British English and American English different? Keep reading, and we'll explore everything from everyday vocabulary, spelling, and accents.

British English vs. American English Vocabulary

This is by far the biggest difference between British and American English. There are a lot of words that are different in America and England. See some examples below:

• Elevator= American, lift= British

• Vacation= American, holiday= British

• Eraser= American, rubber= British

• Cookie= American, biscuit= British

• Trash can= American, bin= British

Spelling

Another difference between British and American English is spelling. There are also hundreds of different spellings. In the 1700s, there were attempts to have consistent spelling between British and American English. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the past 400+ years. The good news is that the spelling isn’t too complicated. Look below for some examples:

• Color= American, colour= British

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• Honor=American, honour= British

• Flavor= American, flavour= British

• Humor= American, humor= British

• Analyze= American, analyse= British

The most common difference between spelling is in the "or" endings nouns, which simply change to "our" in British English. The last example is another way that words ending in "ze" change to "se" in British English.

Accents

The easiest way to spot a Brit or an American is by their accent. Accents develop when groups of people isolate themselves and stay in one place. The accent in America started out as the English accent, because of the immigrants going to America. Slowly that faded as generation after generation grew up in the New World. Then those people sort of created their own accent.

America is a huge country with many different accents, for example, the Southern accent and the Northern accent (think New York and Boston). Then we have the British accent which many people see as the "posh" accent. It's what you would hear in the Netflix original, The Crown, and the famous Harry Potter series. That is what is known as the "Queens English" which come to find out, most Brits don't talk like that. The most common accent in England is known as the Cockney accent. This is how the working-class people speak, often dropping the "th" sound, and switching it for an "f" sound or dropping "h" sound in some words. You can hear this accent in the film, My Fair Lady (1964) starring the late Audrey Hepburn.

No matter where you are in the world, whether you are talking to someone who is from England or Australia, I can guarantee that you will almost always understand them.

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Read more: British English vs American English: 101+ Differences (+ PDF file)