List of words having different meanings in British and American English
An incomplete list of words having different primary meanings in British English and American English. Note: Many of the definitions are recognized by the other as Britishisms or Americanisms respectively.Many American phrases (and their meanings) are now increasingly used in the UK, thanks to the ubiquity of US-made movies and television programmes.
When adding words or meanings to this list, please follow the notations used in existing entries as much as possible, e.g. those of equivalent UK/US terms and common UK/US meanings.
''See also:
- Main article: American and British English differences
- list of British English words not used in American English
- list of American English words not used in British English''
| Word | most common British meaning | most common American meaning |
|---|---|---|
| advocate (noun) | Scottish term for barrister (+ US meaning) | One who argues for a cause |
| alternately | every other one | as an alternative (UK: alternatively) (+ UK meaning) |
| ass | donkey | buttocks (UK: bum or arse) also donkey |
| Asian | coming from India, Pakistan etc.; South Asian | East Asian, continental Southeast Asian see also "oriental" |
| band | a strap | a jewelry ring for the finger (wedding band) (+ UK meaning, less commonly) |
| bathroom | a room containing a bathtub and usually other washing facilities and a toilet. | a room containing a toilet and related washing facilities, usually including a shower or bathtub. |
| billion | thousand million; million million (earlier meaning; now less common) | thousand million (UK: milliard) |
| bird | usually avian slang term for a female slang term for a prison sentence | almost always avian |
| biscuit | cracker (or cookie) | scone or Welsh cake, except without any fruits or nut (fruit)>nuts, served with savory foods |
| blinder | (informal) excellent performance in a game or race | either of two flaps on a horse's bridle to keep it from seeing objects at its sides; blinker |
| blinkers | leather flaps on a bridle used to restrict a horse's lateral vision (US: blinders) (+ US meaning) | lights on a car that indicate the direction about to be taken (UK: indicators) (+ UK meaning) |
| bloody | New Eng: wicked) (+ US meaning) | containing or made up of blood |
| bonk | have sexual intercourse, or an act of sexual intercourse (US: boink) | a blow to the head |
| bonnet | hinged cover over the engine in a car (US: hood) (+ US meaning) | a type of hat tied under the chin worn by women, or a type of man's hat, both worn in previous centuries |
| boob tube | woman's shoulderless, strapless top (US: tube top) | (the boob tube) slang term for television |
| boot | automobile trunk (+ US meaning) | Protective footgear, as of leather or rubber, covering the foot and part or all of the leg |
| braces | over-the-shoulder straps to support trousers (US: suspenders) (+ US meaning) | devices for straightening teeth (+ UK meaning) |
| brew (noun) | a cup of tea | a beer, or coffee drink (sometimes tea) |
| bugger | someone who engages in buggery, or in non-polite company as a form of address (e.g. ..he's a generous bugger anyway) | Term of endearment, often used for children. "Buggery" is usually understood to mean bestiality as opposed to sodomy. (In spoken English, a British "bugger" is sometimes misheard as "Booger".) |
| bum | buttocks (US: ass or butt) | hobo, homeless person. (+ UK sense as a Britishism) |
| café | diner | coffee shop |
| (to) call | (call on someone) to visit someone (call someone) make a telephone call | make a telephone call (also British usage, but this is becoming rare) |
| campsite | an area or park for people to camp in (US: campground) | a spot for a particular person or group to camp, often within a campground (UK: pitch) |
| canfield | Klondike | a somewhat different patience card game (UK: Demon) |
| cheers | said to express gratitude or on parting (+ US meaning) | used as a toast or valediction |
| chemist | pharmacist, pharmacy also a practitioner of chemistry | a person whose profession is chemistry |
| chips | french fries | thinly-sliced fried potato, crisps |
| chippy | carpenter fish and chip shop to have a grievance, chip on one's shoulder | loose woman (rare) |
| chum | buddy (usually ironic) | a friend waste products from fish processing (heads, tails, blood etc.) often used for shark fishing. |
| cider | fermented alcoholic drink made from apples (US: hard cider) | a kind of apple juice |
| concession | reduction in price for a certain category of person (discount) | act of conceding |
| corn | any of various cereal plants or grains, especially the principal crop cultivated in a particular region, as wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland | Indian corn, maize |
| cot | baby's cradle | camp bed |
| dead beat, deadbeat | exhausted (US: dead tired) | a welsher, someone who does not pay their debts, often in construction "deadbeat dad" |
| diary | personal calendar or journal | personal journal |
| drop (of liquid) | meiotic usage: several (fluid) ounces (for example, "just a drop of tea, please".) (primary meaning is as in the US) | a droplet (less than a milliliter) |
| dummy | rubber teat for babies (US: pacifier) (+ US meanings) | mannequin, esp. for automobile crash tests fake fool |
| earth | ground of an electrical circuit, or connect (an electrical device) to ground (+ US meaning) | solid footing formed of soil |
| entrée | starter (first course) of a meal | main course of a meal |
| fag | cigarette a young Public school (UK)>public schoolboy who acts as a servant for older pupils.(+ US sense as an Americanism) | short for faggot, an insulting term for a male homosexual (sometimes a cigarette) |
| fall | collapse, decline | autumn (+ UK meaning) |
| fanny | vagina (obscene slang) | buttocks (not obscene) |
| first floor (of a building) | the floor above ground level | the floor at ground level. Often - but not always - the same floor as a building's "lobby." |
| fly-over | Elevated road section, i.e. long road bridge. | Ceremonial aircraft flight (UK: fly-past). Higher-level road bridge that goes above both a lower bridge and a road below the lower bridge. |
| football | association football, soccer | American football |
| garage | fuel filling station, e.g. "a Texaco garage" vehicle repair shop building attached to or in the grounds of a residence for storing a car In British English, rhymes with "marriage" or is pronounced as "GA-rahzh", the first syllable carrying the stress in both cases. | vehicle repair shop building attached to or in the grounds of a residence for storing a car (parking garage) building serving as a public parking facility (UK: car park, which also applies to an open-air parking facility) In American English, the initial "a" is a schwa, the stress is on the second syllable, the second "a" is broad ("ah"), and the final "g" is pronounced as "zh", adhering to the word's French etymology: guh-RAHZH. |
| garter | band worn around the leg to keep up a stocking or sock | suspender for a sock or stocking (+ UK meaning) |
| gas | Natural gas | Gasoline (UK: petrol) air trapped in the stomach (UK: wind) (+ UK meaning) |
| geezer | gangster, man (esp. Cockney) | old person (derogatory; UK: old geezer) |
| government | The executive (though this will include some of the legislature). Can take the indefinite article. See Parliamentary system. Corresponds to "administration" in American usage. | The combination of the executive, the entire legislature, and the judiciary. Always takes the definite article. See Presidential system. |
| grass | (noun) green ground cover a police informant (verb, often grass on) to tell on somebody (US: squeal) | green ground cover grazing; to feed (livestock) with grass (UK: at grass; put out to grass) |
| ground floor (of a building) | The floor at ground level. | Sometimes used thus, but American English prefers 'first floor'. Lower of two floors that are each at a different ground level due to sloping terrain. |
| hammered | having surface indentations produced or appearing to have been produced by hammering | drunk or intoxicated (+ UK meaning) |
| highway | (chiefly in official use) public road | main road |
| hire | to rent or rental (e.g. of a car) | to recruit a recently recruited employee |
| hockey | field hockey (played with a ball on grass), hockey played on a hard surface (e.g. concrete) or indoors (+ US meaning) | hockey played on ice with a puck (UK: ice hockey) (+ UK meaning) |
| homely | (Of a house) comfortable, cozy, rustic (US: homey) (Of a person) home-loving, domesticated, house-proud | (Only used of a person) plain, ugly |
| hood | a covering for the head, often attached to overcoats, to protect the wearer from wind and rain | hinged cover over the engine in a car (UK: bonnet) a contraction of neighborhood (+ UK meaning) |
| hunting | pursuing animals on horseback | pursuing animals on foot (UK: shooting or stalking) |
| ice pick | An ice axe, a tool with a pointed end used by rock- and mountain-climbers for splitting ice. | A small awl-like tool for breaking ice into small pieces for drinks. |
| indicator | turn signal in a car (+ US meaning) | a gauge or measure |
| jam | a preserve made from fruits boiled in sugar and set with pectin (US: jelly) | certain kinds of fruit preserve, especially the kinds with pieces of fruit left in: you have strawberry jam, but grape jelly |
| jelly | a fruit flavoured dessert set with gelatin (US: Jell-O) | a preserve made from the liquid of fruits boiled in sugar and set with pectin, without pieces of fruit |
| jock | Scotsman or a Scots dog. | Slang term for an athlete, or for the undergarment called an athletic supporter. |
| joint | A piece of meat for roasting, typically on the bone | An establisment, especially a disruptable one (a gin joint; let's case the joint) Prison (in the joint) |
| jumper | sweater | pinafore dress |
| knickers | panties | knickerbockers |
| knock up | manufacture hastily practise before tennis wake up by knocking make pregnant | make pregnant |
| lantern | free-standing device that emits a continuous light (compare British torch) | device that burns liquid to produce light |
| lemonade | clear, carbonated lemon-flavoured drink related to but excluding Sprite or 7Up which are lemon and lime flavoured | non-carbonated drink made by mixing lemon juice, sugar, and water (UK: traditional lemonade) |
| let | renting>rent (an apartment) | allow, give permission rent (rarely; exists primarily in "sublet") |
| line | a line | a queue (+ UK meaning) |
| loaded (slang; of a person) | rich | drunk or high (+ UK meaning) |
| lounge (noun) | A room for relaxation and entertainment in a family house (lounge bar) part of a pub | a bar |
| love (noun) | used as an informal term of address (+ US meaning) | beloved person, darling--often used as a term of endearment |
| lush (slang; of a person) | adjective: attractive (usually used by women in reference to men) (+ US meaning) | noun: an alcoholic (+ UK meaning) |
| majority | the greatest number of votes difference of votes between first and second place (US: plurality) | more than half of all votes (UK: absolute majority) |
| marinara (sauce) | a sauce containing seafood, usually in a tomato base | a sauce containing tomatoes and herbs, with no seafood or meat (UK: napolitana sauce) |
| mate | friend | spouse |
| mean | stingy, miserly, selfish | angry, cruel, vicious |
| Middle East | area of southwest Asia and northern Africa, stretching from the Mediterranean to Pakistan, in particular Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria | countries of SW Asia and northern Africa, usually considered as including the countries extending from Libya on the west to Afghanistan on the east |
| mobile (noun) | mobile phone, cell phone (+ US meaning) | decorative structure suspended so as to turn freely in the air (sometimes pronounced with a long i as in eel) |
| momentarily | for a moment | in a moment; very soon (+ UK meaning) |
| moot | debatable (a moot point) | irrelevant (+ UK meaning) |
| muffler | scarf | silencer on automobile/gramophone |
| on the telephone (on the phone) | to be talking on the telephone or (rare) to possess a working telephone | to be talking on the telephone |
| oriental | East Asian, continental Southeast Asian | East Asian, increasingly considered slightly condescending or politically incorrect when applied to persons. |
| outside lane | the lane closest to the median or central reservation. | the lane furthest from the median or central reservation. In both cases this will be the rightmost lane. |
| pants | underpants (usually y-fronts) (informal) nonsense, rubbish | trousers |
| paraffin | kerosene | a waxy fraction of petroleum commonly used to make candles (UK: "paraffin wax") |
| paralytic | extremely drunk (+ US meaning) | relating to paralysis |
| pavement | sidewalk | asphalt; the road surface |
| pecker | courage, pluck (used in the phrase 'keep your pecker up', remain cheerful) | penis (slang) |
| period | section of time menstruation | punctuation mark (UK: full stop) (+ UK meanings) |
| pint, quart, gallon | Approx. 1.2 times US measure | Approx. 5/6 British (imperial) measure |
| pissed | intoxicated; drunk (e.g. 'pissed as a newt') Piss is vulgar slang for Urine, and gives rise to the verb 'To Piss', hence pissed is the past tense conjugation. | angry, irritated (short for pissed off, which is used in both countries) |
| pitch | outdoor site (as for camping or doing business), or playing field | in baseball, the delivery of a baseball by a pitcher to a batter |
| pound sign | symbol of the Pound Sterling (£) (GBP) The symbol for a weight of one pound is lb, or (ࡂ) in Unicode | hash sign (#); symbol of a weight of one pound |
| pressurize (British English: "-ise") | To insistently influence, or attempt to influence, someone else: The manager pressurised his assistant to work late. (US: pressure) (+ US meaning) | subject a volume of gas or liquid to physical pressure. In everyday speech this is most often used to refer to the atmospheric pressure within an aircraft: For the passengers' comfort, the airliner's cabin was pressurized [to 10,000 feet]. |
| public school | long-established and prestigious fee-paying private school; not all private schools are classed as public schools. | tax-supported school controlled by a local governmental authority (UK: state school) |
| pudding | dessert course of a meal (+ US meaning) | a creamy dessert |
| purse | feminine money container (US: wallet) | handbag (+ UK meaning) |
| quite good | mediocre, acceptable, good, well done (ironic, according to subtle voice intonation) | excellent |
| (to) ring | to call (someone) by telephone (+ US meaning) | to make a bell-like sound |
| a rubber | a pencil eraser | a condom |
| rubbish | garbage; trash | understood by Americans as a Britishism unless when it is used to impugn a statement; American English speakers can deride an idea as "rubbish" and be understood, but they do so at the risk of sounding "stuck up" or pompous. |
| saloon | sedan (car)>sedan) (saloon bar) a posh bar within a pub or hotel | bar; especially associated with the Wild West |
| school | place of primary and secondary education grouping of departments or large department within a university faculty | university or college (+ UK meaning) |
| seeded (grapes, etc.) | with the seeds left in | having had the seeds removed (also seedless) |
| shag | (vulgar) to copulate, or copulate with a type of bird, similar to a cormorant (+ US meaning) | a kind of a dance (+UK meaning, as Britishism; popularized by Austin Powers movies) |
| shattered | exhausted broken | broken |
| sherbet | a fizzy powdered confectionery | a type of frozen dessert (also spelled sherbert) |
| shop | store (retail) | workshop (+ UK meaning) |
| shingles | pebbles forming a beach | roof or exterior wall tiles |
| silencer | silences car/automobile (muffler) silences a gun (rare) | silences a firearm |
| skillet | (regional dialect) a frying pan a type of stir-fried food item | a frying pan, often cast iron a long-handled stewing pan or saucepan, often having short legs or feet |
| slag | (derogatory) promiscuous woman (+ US meaning) | dross or scoria of a metal |
| slash | colloquialism for urinating (to have a slash) (+ US meaning, although regarded as an Americanism) | the symbol '/' (typography: slash (punctuation); UK: oblique) |
| (to) slate | to disparage | to schedule, such as "slated for demolition" |
| solicitor | lawyer who advises clients, represents them in the lower courts, and prepares cases for barristers to try in higher courts | One that solicits, especially one that seeks trade or contributions chief law officer of a city, town, or government department |
| solitaire | peg-jumping puzzle game (see peg solitaire) | any of a family of one-player card games (see solitaire) (UK: patience) |
| spunk | semen (+ US meaning) | courage, sauciness (+ UK meaning) |
| squash (noun) | fruit cordial drink (squash (drink)) a sport (squash (sport)) (rarely) the vegetable | vegetable (squash (vegetable)) (rarely) the sport |
| subway | pedestrian underpass | underground rail system |
| suspenders | elasticated support for stockings (US: garter) | elasticated support for trousers (UK: braces) |
| (to) table (e.g. parliamentary procedure) | table) | to suspend from consideration (to shelve) (i.e. to put it back on the table after having picked it up) |
| tailgater | a motorist who follows another vehicle too closely | someone who picnics from the rear of a vehicle (+ UK meaning) |
| tap | faucet (+ US meanings) | device for dispensing beer from a keg (equal use as faucet) Also used in "a phone tap" (+ UK meaning) |
| tea | A beverage, usually taken hot with milk variously an afternoon snack or an evening meal | a beverage, hot or in some regions taken cold with lemon and/or sugar |
| theatre | playhouse Star Wars opened in theaters in 1977 would be understood as an Americanism | (spelled theater) cinema (+ UK meaning, spelled theater or theatre) |
| tick | a check mark a moment a credit or trust; a credit account or an amount of credit (+ US meaning) | a blood-sucking insect |
| tick off | to admonish | to annoy |
| tights | nylons, usually sheer, which also cover the groin (US: pantyhose) | skin-tight, often opaque, pants or pants and top, such as worn by gymnasts |
| torch | hand-held device that emits light (US: flashlight) (+ US meaning) | burning stick, such as a tiki torch |
| tosser | masturbates, a derogatory term similar to wanker (+ US meaning) | someone who throws objects |
| tramp | a homeless person | a loose woman a prostitute sometimes a homeless person, as in the movie Lady and the Tramp |
| trapezium | a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides | a quadrilateral with no parallel sides |
| trapezoid | a quadrilateral with no parallel sides | a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides |
| trolley | cart or wheeled stand used for conveying something (as food or books) (+ US meaning) | trolley car (UK: tram) |
| trunk | trunk line | boot of a car (+ UK meaning) |
| tube | subterranean railway system, especially the one in London | television, or a thermionic valve |
| tyke | an informal, sometimes disparaging term for someone from Yorkshire (+ US meaning) | term of endearment for a child, like "little rascal" |
| underground | subterranean railway system (US: subway) (+ US meaning) | subterranean space or channel |
| valve | (vacuum) tube, as in pre-1960s electronics (+ US meanings) | device to start, stop or regulate flow |
| vest | garment, usually sleeveless, worn under a shirt (US: undershirt) sleeveless garment worn as an only visible top | sleeveless garment worn over a shirt (UK: waistcoat) (e.g. kevlar vest, which would also be used in UK) |
| wash up | wash the dishes (more generally, to clean after eating food) | wash your hands (more generally, to clean before eating food) |
| way out | exit (on a sign) | extreme (as in "way out there") |