British English Words Vs American English Words.....

English was introduced to what is modern day America in the 17th century by the British settlers. Since then the language has evolved and has been influenced by the many waves of immigration to the USA.

The spelling of British English words were cemented by Samuel Johnson in what is considered to be one of the most famous dictionaries in the world. It took Johnson, and six helpers, just over eight years to curate the 40,000 words that appeared in ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’, which was publihsed in 1755.

Similarly in America ‘A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language’ was first printed in 1806 and popularised the American English spellings that were being used instead of the British English spellings of words, such as color instead of colour.

British English words ending in ‘our’ usually end in ‘or’ in American English:

BRITISH	US
colour	color
flavour	flavor
humour	humor
labour	labor
neighbour	neighbor