There are several areas in which British and American spelling are different. The differences often come about because British English has tended to keep the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages (e.g. French), while American English has adapted the spelling to reflect the way that the words actually sound when they're spoken.
英式英語(yǔ)和美式英語(yǔ)的拼寫(xiě)在某些地方不盡相同。原因是英式英語(yǔ)更傾向于保留外來(lái)語(yǔ)（如法語(yǔ)）的拼寫(xiě)，而美式英語(yǔ)的拼寫(xiě)反映了單詞的實(shí)際發(fā)音。

If you're writing for British readers, you should only use British spellings. In one or two cases, the preferred American spellings are acceptable in British English as well, especially the -ize/-ization endings. While you can use both the -ise/-isation or the -ize/ization endings in British English, it's important to stick to one style or the other throughout the same piece of writing.
如果你的讀者是英國(guó)人，那么就應(yīng)該使用英式拼寫(xiě)。偶爾幾種美式拼寫(xiě)也能被英式英語(yǔ)接受，特別是以-ize/-ization結(jié)尾的單詞。英式英語(yǔ)中可以使用以-ise/-isation或-ize/ization結(jié)尾的單詞，但重要的是在一篇文章內(nèi)保持同一種拼寫(xiě)方式。

Here are the main ways in which British and American spelling are different.
以下是英式和美式拼寫(xiě)的主要不同。

Words ending in –re
以-re結(jié)尾的單詞

British English words that end in -re often end in -er in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中以-re結(jié)尾的單詞通常在美式英語(yǔ)中以-er結(jié)尾。

British US
centre center
fibre fiber
litre liter
theatre theater or theatre

Words ending in –our
以-our結(jié)尾的單詞

British English words ending in -our usually end in -or in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中以-our結(jié)尾的單詞通常在美式英語(yǔ)中以-or結(jié)尾。

British US
colour color
flavour flavor
humour humor
labour labor

Words ending in -ize or –ise
以ize或ise結(jié)尾的單詞

Verbs in British English that can be spelled with either -ize or -ise at the end are always spelled with -ize at the end in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中以-ize或-ise結(jié)尾的動(dòng)詞都是合乎拼寫(xiě)規(guī)則的。但在美式英語(yǔ)中，它們總是以-ize結(jié)尾。

British US
apologize or apologise apologize
organize or organise organize
recognize or recognise recognize

Words ending in –yse
以-yse結(jié)尾的單詞

Verbs in British English that end in -yse are always spelled -yze in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中以-yse結(jié)尾的單詞在美式英語(yǔ)中總是以-yze結(jié)尾。

British US
analyse analyze
breathalyse breathalyze
paralyse paralyze

Words ending in a vowel plus l
以元音+l結(jié)尾的單詞

In British spelling, verbs ending in a vowel plus l double the l when adding endings that begin with a vowel. In American English, the l is not doubled:
英式英語(yǔ)中，在以元音+l結(jié)尾的單詞后面加上由元音開(kāi)始的后綴時(shí)，l要重復(fù)1次。美式英語(yǔ)則沒(méi)有這一要求。

British US
travel travel
travelled traveled
traveller traveler

Words spelled with double vowels
含有2個(gè)連在一起的元音字母的單詞

British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe are just spelled with an e in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中含有ae或oe的單詞在美式英語(yǔ)中只寫(xiě)作e。

British US
leukaemia leukemia
manoeuvre maneuver
oestrogen estrogen

Note that in American English, certain terms, such as archaeology, keep the ae spelling as standard, although the spelling with just the e (i.e. archeology) is usually acceptable as well.
注意：美式英語(yǔ)中，一些專有名詞如archaeology還是會(huì)保持標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的寫(xiě)法，雖然只寫(xiě)e(例如archeology)也不是不能接受。

Nouns ending with –ence
以-ence結(jié)尾的名詞

Some nouns that end with -ence in British English are spelled -ense in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中某些以-ence結(jié)尾的名詞在美式英語(yǔ)中以-ense結(jié)尾。

British US
defence defense
licence license
offence offense

Nouns ending with –ogue
以-ogue結(jié)尾的名詞

Some nouns that end with -ogue in British English end with either -og or –ogue in American English:
英式英語(yǔ)中某些以-ogue結(jié)尾的名詞在美式英語(yǔ)中以-og或ogue結(jié)尾。

British US
analogue analog or analogue
catalogue catalog or catalogue
dialogue dialog or dialogue

The distinctions here are not hard and fast. The spelling analogue is acceptable but not very common in American English; catalog has become the US norm, but catalogue is not uncommon; dialogue is still preferred over dialog.
上面這條規(guī)則并非一成不變。Analogue可以接受但在美式英語(yǔ)中并不常見(jiàn)。Catalog已經(jīng)成為美式標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，而catalogue也很常見(jiàn)。人們更愿意使用dialogue而非dialog。

Aside from spelling differences, many items and practices have different names in British and American English. To explore further, see British and American terms.
除了上述的拼寫(xiě)區(qū)別，英式英語(yǔ)和美式英語(yǔ)也有許多用詞方面的不同。感興趣的話戳這里吧：英國(guó)人不說(shuō)的300個(gè)單詞

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