If a word appears to be missing from this list, it is advisable to check the list of words having different meanings in British and American English, as it is possible that the word is used in both dialects. It has been suggested that UK-US Heterologues A-Z be merged into this article or section. ...

See also

• American and British English differences
• list of British English words not used in American English
• list of words having different meanings in British and American English

A

airplane 

aeroplane

anchorman/anchorwoman 

news broadcaster

arugula 

rocket (salad plant; also sometimes spelt as "roquette")

B

baby carriage 

pram

backhoe 

JCB (genericised trademark; backhoe is the correct technical term, though seldom used)

baggage 

luggage

band aid/bandage 

plaster

bangs (hair) 

fringes

barnyard 

farmyard

bedroom community 

dormitory town, commuter town

blinders (on a horse) 

blinkers

booger (slang) 

bogey, piece of snot (slang)

broil 

grill (cooking)

brownstone 

a type of residential building found in New York and other large cities.

buddy/bud 

friend, mate

bullhorn 

Tannoy (genericised trademark) / loudhailer / megaphone (occasionally bullhorn)

burglarize  

rob / burgle

busboy  

(no equivalent) junior restaurant worker assisting waiting staff, table clearer, water pourer etc.

butt (slang) 

buttocks, bum

For transportation of a baby or toddler there are special vehicles, special car seats, and devices for carrying. ... Picture 1:Backhoe used for work on the street Picture 2:Skid loader with bucket replaced by backhoe attachment A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment consisting of a digging bucket on the end of an articulated arm (also called a... JCB is a family business named after its founder J.C.Bamford, producing distinctive yellow-and-black engineering vehicles, diggers (Backhoes) and excavators. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural... Commuters waiting for the morning train in Maplewood, New Jersey A bedroom community, dormitory town, or commuter town is a town or city that is primarily residential in character, with most of its residents commuting to a nearby town or city to earn their livelihood. ... This article is being considered for deletion for the 2nd time in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Broiling is cooking food with high heat with the heat applied directly to the food. ... Four-story brownstones in Harlem, just south of 125th Street, 2004 Romanesque revival building in Colorado, built in 1890 Brownstone is a brown sandstone which was once a popular building material. ... A megaphone is a cone-shaped device designed to amplify sound. ... Tannoy Ltd is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address (PA) systems. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural... A busboy is an assistant to a waiter or waitress, mainly specializing in setting and clearing tables. ... The buttocks (often called butt or ass in colloquial American speech and arse in British speech) are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of the great apes and humans. ...

C

candy 

sweets, also bon bons

canola 

a trademarked variety of rapeseed

carhop 

someone serving food at a drive-in, often on rollerskates

carnival 

fairground

Chapstick 

lip salve (Note: "Chapstick" is a trademark brand in danger of becoming genericized.)

checkers 

draughts

checking account 

current account

(potato) chips 

crisps

cilantro 

coriander leaf

collect call

reverse charge call

comforter 

quilt, similar to a duvet

condominium (or condo) 

commonhold

cookie 

biscuit

cookout 

informal meal cooked and eaten outdoors - a cross between a picnic and a barbecue

cotton candy  

candy floss or fairy floss

crapshoot 

risky and uncertain venture, from a dice game

to cuss (from "curse") 

to swear

A shelf filled with candies Candy is often used as a synonym for the more general term confectionery in North America, whereas the word has become archaic in most parts of the United Kingdom and survives today almost exclusively in the term candy floss. In some areas, notably Scotland, candy... Canola field near Red Deer, Alberta Canola field in Temora In agriculture, Canola is a trademarked cultivar of the rapeseed plant from which rapeseed oil is obtained. ... Binomial name Brassica napus L. Rapeseed Brassica napus, also known as Rape, Oilseed Rape, Rapa, Rapaseed and (one particular cultivar) Canola, is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae. ... A carhop is a waiter or waitress on rollerskates who brings food to people in their cars. ... Drive-in, a facility such as a bank, restaurant, theatre or even a church where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. ... ... Swabian-Alemannic carnival clowns in Wolfach, Germany A carnival is a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season. ... A ChapStick ChapStick is the brand name adopted in the United States by Wyeth Consumer Healthcare for its range of lip balms for chapped lips. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural... starting position on a 10×10 draughts board Draughts, also known as checkers, is a group of mental sport board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemys pieces. ... Includes demand deposits, ATS, NOW, and other checkable deposits. ... Binomial name Coriandrum sativum Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an annual herb commonly used in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Indian, Latin American and Southeast Asian cooking. ... A duvet (pronounced , from the French duvet down) is a type of bedding— a soft flat bag traditionally filled with down or feathers, or a combination of both and used on a bed as a blanket. ... A condominium is a form of housing tenure. ... A chocolate chip cookie In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat baked cake (Commonwealth English biscuit). ... Spinning cotton candy on a kiosk at a funfair. ...

D

dessert 

pudding, afters

diaper 

nappy

drug store 

chemist, chemist's shop

drywall 

gypsum board, plasterboard, or any process that builds interior walls without the use of water

Dumpster 

skip (Note: "Dumpster" is a trademark in danger of becoming genericized)

A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark) is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to uniquely identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to distinguish the business and its products or services from those of other businesses. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural...

E

eggplant 

aubergine ("eggplant" is common in the Commonwealth outside the United Kingdom, however, due to the fact that a 19th century fad for using French culinary terms never caught on in the colonies)

"El" (used primarily to refer to the Chicago 'L' and the now-defunct Third Avenue El in New York City)

elevated railway used in urban transport

elevator 

lift

English muffin 

no real equivalent; a round, yeast-leavened bread usually served for breakfast

envision 

envisage

Binomial name Solanum esculentum Drege ex Dun. ... The Chicago Elevated is the principal urban heavy rail and metro serving Chicago, Illinois in the United States. ... The Third Avenue Line was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, USA. It passed into the ownership of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually the New York City Subway system before being closed in sections from 1950 to 1973. ... Split English muffin An English muffin is a round yeast-leavened bread enriched with butter and milk, often served at breakfast in the United States and Canada. ...

F

fanny pack 

bum bag (note: while a light-hearted term meaning "bottom" in the U.S., fanny is vulgar slang for vagina in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.)

faucet 

tap

fender (on car) 

bumper / front wing

flack

publicist, PR

flatware 

cutlery ("flatware" is, however, used in the UK antiques trade as a specialist word for cutlery)

French fries 

"chips", though often thinner

freshman 

first-year student

Starch-polyester disposable cutlery Cutlery refers to any hand utensil used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food. ... French fries (alternatively fries or chips) are pieces of potato that have been deep-fried. ...

G

garbage 

rubbish, bollocks

gasoline 

petrol

general delivery 

poste restante

gotten 

past participle of got; most stylebooks, however, prefer got (gotten is used in some British dialects)

green thumb 

green fingers

gridiron 

field of play for American football

grifter 

con artist / transient swindler (or professional gambler)

H

hard liquor 

spirits

hickey 

love bite (sometimes used in UK)

hobo 

a vagrant, a tramp

hood 

bonnet (of a car)

(hominy) grits 

coarsely ground corn boiled for breakfast, especially in the Southern USA

howdy 

casual greeting in Southern States. Short for "how do you do" (although it is considered to be an "outdated" term).

I

intern 

temporarily employed trainee; junior hospital doctor (UK: house officer)

in the world 

on the world (As in: This is the best pizza on/in the world.")

intimate apparel 

underwear

J

Jell-o (trademark, commonly used to mean "gelatin (dessert)") 

jelly

A variety of pre-packaged gelatin dessert products for sale at a supermarket in the U.S. state of Wisconsin in 2004 By far the most popular use for gelatin products is as gelatin dessert, in the UK gelatin desserts are referred to as jelly, and in the US (where...

K

Kleenex 

tissue ("Kleenex" is well known as a brand name in Britain, but the word is not used generically)

to kick the bucket 

to die (similar to "pop my clogs")

L

ladybug 

ladybird

life preserver 

life belt (rigid ring-shaped variety). Occasionally used to refer life jackets as well. Now in North America, life jackets are increasingly referred to as PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices), possibly because of the non-jacket shape of many of the newer ones.

Life-Savers (TM) 

sweets in a shape reminiscent of a life belt, usually packaged in a roll, roughly equivalent to Polo Mints (TM)

liquor store 

off-licence or offie

lip balm 

lip salve

Subfamilies Chilocorinae Coccidulinae Coccinellinae Epilachninae Scymininae Sticholotidinae etc. ... Polo is a brand of ring-shaped sweet, manufactured in the United Kingdom since 1948. ... An off licence is a shop that sells alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom, for consumption off the premises. ...

M

math 

maths (mathematics)

maven 

expert

meet with 

meet, have a meeting with (meet with may also be used)

midsize 

medium size; when applied to a car, it means (what most British drivers would consider) large

merry-go-round (or carousel) 

roundabout (fairground ride)

muffler 

silencer (of a car)

N

named for 

named after

narc 

law enforcement narcotics agent, not a 'nark' (police informant); but 'to narc on' someone is to inform on them to an authority figure (This term is also used in New Zealand)

newscaster 

news reader

normalcy 

normality

O

oftentimes 

often (oftentimes is archaic in Britain but colloquial in America, especially clause-initially)

ouster 

ousting, overthrow

P

pacifier 

dummy

pants 

trousers (Pants refer to underwear in the U.K.)

pantyhose 

tights (Note: The term, originally a trademark, refers to sheer nylon tights. Non-sheer tights (of cotton, wool, or thick nylon) are also called tights, not pantyhose, in the U.S.)

parking lot 

car park

Popsicle 

ice lolly (Note: "Popsicle" is a trademark in danger of becoming genericized)

pre-authorized payment/withdrawal 

direct debit (variable amount)/standing order (fixed amount)

public holiday 

bank holiday

Popsicle is a trademarked name for a frozen treat on a stick. ... Lollipop (Candyman) is the title of a song by the pop-dance group Aqua, from the album Aquarium A lollipop, or lolly, is a type of confectionery consisting mainly of hardened, flavoured sugar mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. ...

R

rain check 

delay, sometimes an indefinite delay

raised pavement marker 

cat's eye (road)

rappel 

abseil (to descend on a rope)

Realtor/real estate agent 

estate agent (Note: Realtor is a registered trademark that is sometimes used generically)

rotary (noun) 

traffic circle, roundabout; but the name for this item exhibits considerable regional variability in the US - it may be known as a rotary, traffic circle, roundabout, glorieta, etc.

row house (noun) 

terraced house

rutabaga 

swede (see turnip)

A raincheck is an informal agreement by a merchant to a customer to provide an item he has run out of at a later time at a specific price. ... A close up of a modern red cats eye A cats eye is a safety device used in road construction in the United Kingdom. ... In British English, abseiling (from the German abseilen, to rope down) is the process of descending on a fixed rope. ... Realtor is a U.S. registered trademark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and subscribes to its Code of Ethics. ... The Bass Red Triangle, was the first trademark registered in Britain in 1876. ... Binomial name Brassica napobrassica The rutabaga or swede or (yellow) turnip (Brassica napobrassica, or Brassica napus var. ... Turnip can refer to three vegetables, which are described under the articles Turnip (brassica rapa), Rutabaga, and Jicama. ...

S

scallion 

spring onion

Scotch tape (TM) 

Sellotape (TM) (brand name used generically), sticky tape, sticky-backed plastic

sedan (car) 

saloon (car)

sidewalk 

pavement (unlike US, always refers to sidewalk, never to road), footpath

skillet 

frying pan

sneakers 

trainers

soccer 

football

soda 

soft drink (can also refer to a drink made with soda water, flavoring, and sometimes ice cream, but this is less common.)

sophomore 

second (particularly second-year students)

spigot

tap; alternative word for faucet. While spigot usually refers to outdoors, faucet usually refers to indoors.

spyglass 

(terrestrial) telescope

station wagon 

estate (car)

steam shovel 

mechanical excavator

stickshift, stick 

[slang], (car with) manual transmission, as opposed to an automatic.

stool pigeon 

informer

store 

shop ("shop" is almost always used as a noun in American English)

stove 

cooker

streetcar 

tram

stroller 

pushchair, buggy

switchback 

hairpin bend or bends

This is an article about manual transmission in general; for guidance on how to drive with a manual transmission, see Manual transmission driving technique. ... An automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the car or truck moves, thus freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually. ...

T

talk with 

talk to

teeter-totter, teeterboard 

see-saw

telecast 

broadcast, or television broadcast

tenderloin 

fillet steak (note in Britain, the final 't' is pronounced)

thumb tack 

drawing pin

tic-tac-toe 

noughts and crosses

trackless trolley 

trolleybus

trashcan 

dustbin

triplex (house) 

no direct equivalent; in the UK more than two houses joined together are called "terraced" houses, and a row of such houses is a "terrace". A house on the end of a terrace is called an "end of terrace" house.

triplex (locomotive) 

a large steam locomotive with three sets of driving wheels. See 2-8-8-8-2

trolley (car) 

tram

trunk 

boot (of a car)

turn signal, directionals  

indicators

tuxedo 

dinner jacket, 'DJ', 'black tie' (sometimes used in UK)

two cents 

an opinion, a piece of one's mind (as in, "I'm gonna go down there and give him my two cents") - similar usage with "two pence" or "tu'pence worth"

Tic-tac-toe, also called noughts and crosses and many other names, is a paper and pencil game between two players, O and X, who alternate in marking the spaces in a 3×3 board. ... Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-2 has two leading wheels, three sets of eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. ...

U

undershirt 

vest, singlet

upscale 

upmarket

underpants 

pants

V

visit with 

to visit someone ("visit with" is never used in the UK)

W

wetback

pejorative term for an illegal immigrant from Mexico/Latin America. So called as they are presumed to have swum the Rio Grande river to have entered the USA.

wife-beater (noun) 

vest, the white sleeveless undershirt worn by Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire"

windshield

windscreen

wrench (hand tool)

spanner

woodsy 

abundant in trees, suggestive of woods

workday 

working day

The Rio Grande flowing in Big Bend National Park Known as the Rio Grande in the United States and as the Río Bravo (or, more formally, the Río Bravo del Norte) in Mexico, the river, 3034 km long, rises in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, USA, flows... The windshield or windscreen of an aircraft, automobile, or motorcycle, is the front window. ... Limber Pine woodland, Toiyabe Range, central Nevada Biologically, a woodland is differentiated from a forest. ...

X

Y

yellow light 

as in the color at a stop light. In the UK, this is refered to as an amber. In the UK, the amber light also lights in advance of the green (and not only as warning of impending red).

Z

ZIP code (for Zone Improvement Plan)

postcode

zucchini 

courgette