Jewelry vs Jewellery

One of the most confusing elements for those who love jewelry is how to spell it correctly. In this article, we will give you both spellings and tell you the differences between Jewelry vs Jewellery. Spoiler Alert: Both Jewelry and Jewellery are correct spellings.

Keep reading to learn which one you’re supposed to use…

Is it Jewelry or Jewellery?

Both spellings are correct. Jewelry is how people in the USA and Canada spell it. Jewellery is how people in the UK (and most of the English-speaking world) spell it.

“England and America, two countries separated by a common language” – George Bernard Shaw

When Shaw uttered those immortal words, he had no idea how close he was to the truth of the matter. English is the most widely spoken language on earth. British English is the dominant variation. But we also have American English, which is unique to North America. You may see one or the other being used depending on where you are in Canada.

Skip to the bottom of the article to see other common words that are spelled differently in America and the UK.

Jewelry vs. Jewellery Breakdown

Here are the countries that use different translations.

• USA: Jewelry
• Canada: Jewellery and Jewelry
• UK: Jewellery
• Australia: Jewellery
• India: Jewellery
• South Africa: Jewellery

Why is there American English?

But Spanish and French are also widely spoken, and we never hear terms like ‘Mexican Spanish’ or ‘Madagascan French’, so why do we need American English? The answer is that we Americans took it upon ourselves to simplify the spelling of many words. Over time, they have become the accepted way of doing things here. Sometimes, English scholars imply that we have to simplify things because we aren’t intelligent enough to get it right. The truth isn’t quite so insulting as that!

British English is a curious mix of Latin, French, and German; many of those influences survive today. Many of the settlers were largely uneducated when America was still a young country. They used literal spellings when writing, which makes perfect sense. Webster’s Dictionary, produced in 1831, cemented this habit in the nation’s lexicon, and American English was born.

One of the words that demonstrate this phenomenon perfectly is jewelry. Or jewellery.

The word Jewelry

The double ‘L’ in many words in British English is a giveaway of their French origins. Grammar rules dictate that a vowel must follow any double-letter inclusion. Hence, the ‘E’ in jewellery is a requirement.

In the USA, we don’t concern ourselves with too many unnecessary rules and regulations, being the land of the free. We dispensed with this archaic concept of letters for letters’ sake, which is very foreign in all senses of the word.

This single-double idiomatic of the noun continues into the verb, with jeweled being the standard here and jeweled being used in Britain. British people will always argue that they are right and we are wrong, as it is their language (with the clue being in the name). They may be right about being right, but American English spellings are used routinely by 325 million people, so how can that be wrong?

More Spelling Differences Between the US and UK

The fact is that language is a complex and quite subjective thing. This is more evident than in the differences between British and American English. Theater or theatre? Meter or metre? Colorize or colorise? Advertize or advertise? Wait, we don’t use advertize?

Advertise is one of the few such words on which we all agree, but nobody seems to know exactly why. It’s likely that, as the word has only really come into common usage in relatively recent times, there was only ever really one version, and so it was adopted as a universal spelling.

We’re happy to stick with jewelry, jeweled, and the rest because we’re just as right as anybody else.

Here are some more classic examples of spelling differences between the USA and the UK:

Examples of Jewelry

Are you looking for jewelry or just window shopping? Here’s some gorgeous jewelry to browse through!

How do you Spell “Diamond”?

Diamond is a tricky word. It spelled “diamond,” which, when broken into letters, is D I A M O N D. Phonetically, diamond is pronounced dai·muhnd. This is the spelling from both America and the UK.

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