Questions tagged [o-ou]

For questions about whether to use 'o' or 'ou' in a word, in particular when talking about differences between British and American English, e.g. in the spelling of the words color/colour and favorite/favourite.

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Why is “collaborate” not spelled “collabourate” in British English?

Everyone knows that labour in British English is labor in American English. However, a cursory examination of a dictionary shows the words collabourate and collabourator, derived from the mentioned ...
Artyom Lugovoy's user avatar
30 votes
2 answers
87k views

Why is it spelled "curiosity" instead of "curiousity?"

I have been spelling the word "curiosity" with a u, "curiousity," my whole life, and only today was Chrome's spellcheck bold enough to highlight my lifelong error. I have two questions: The root word ...
David Schwartz's user avatar
22 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why does American English still write "glamour" with a "u"?

Why is it that in American English the word glamour retains its u while humour, neighbour, and others have shed it compared with their British spellings?
Clay Fowler's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
21k views

Is "vapourise" considered incorrect, even in British English?

According to Wiktionary, the British spelling of "vaporize" is vaporise, not vapourise as one might expect from the word vapour (and similarly, the Canadian spelling is still vaporize, not vapourize). ...
Joe Z.'s user avatar
  • 3,218
9 votes
5 answers
37k views

Should "glamourous" be considered incorrect?

The Wiktionary entry for glamourous, for what it's worth, claims that it is "a common British spelling", but many native English speakers dismiss it as incorrect. Some, though, draw a distinction ...
dreamlike's user avatar
  • 189
6 votes
3 answers
5k views

Why did Australian English change from spelling words like 'honor' to 'honour'?

I know there are other questions comparing the US and UK usage of o and ou in words like colour. My question is specifically in regard to Australian English. I was always taught that here in Australia ...
Richard A's user avatar
  • 765
16 votes
5 answers
52k views

Why is 'forty' spelled without a 'u' in Canadian/British English?

I was writing in Word today (with the Canadian English dictionary enabled) and it kept putting a redline under "fourty" which I couldn't understand. A bit of searching says that, even in British and ...
Jedidja's user avatar
  • 735
68 votes
7 answers
7k views

How come 'ou' was reduced to 'o' in the US?

Americans write color and favorite, when others say colour and favourite. How/why did this happen?
tshepang's user avatar
  • 1,383
8 votes
5 answers
77k views

"ou" versus "o" in spelling words like "color"/"colour"

Often, I have to decide whichever is better in mail, forums, letters. For instance: colour vs color flavour vs flavor behaviour vs behavior humour vs humor rumour vs rumor honour vs honor armour vs ...
Déjà vu's user avatar
  • 183
14 votes
4 answers
69k views

"Favorite" vs. "favourite"

Excuse my stupid question, but do "favorite" and "favourite" mean the same thing?
Chankey Pathak's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
37k views

Is there any difference between "color" and "colour"?

What is the difference between color and colour?
chanchal1987's user avatar
  • 1,858