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American and British English spelling differences
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<p>Despite the various <a href="/facts/List_of_dialects_of_English/FTceHImh">English dialects</a> spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in <a href="/facts/English_orthography/1Exe2W6G">English orthography</a>, the two most notable variations being British and American spelling. Many of <a href="/facts/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English/s0AzUpal">the differences</a> between <a href="/facts/American_English/sdAfgPgM">American</a> and <a href="/facts/British_English/ymJR5Rnd">British</a> or <a href="/facts/English_in_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations/FfHnv1CT">Commonwealth</a> English date back to a time before <a href="/facts/Spelling/nUQ3g7IM">spelling</a> standards were developed. For instance, some spellings seen as "American" today were once commonly used in Britain, and some spellings seen as "British" were once commonly used in the United States. </p><p>A "British standard" began to emerge following the 1755 publication of <a href="/facts/Samuel_Johnson/yl89qQ3t">Samuel Johnson</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language/Df0XgWuM">A Dictionary of the English Language</a></i>, and an "American standard" started following the work of <a href="/facts/Noah_Webster/UI1fKhRo">Noah Webster</a> and, in particular, his <i><a href="/facts/Webster%27s_Dictionary/A7onwQtb">An American Dictionary of the English Language</a></i>, first published in 1828. Webster's efforts at <a href="/facts/Spelling_reform/S4FG66uY">spelling reform</a> were effective in his native country, resulting in certain well-known patterns of spelling differences between the American and British varieties of English. However, <a href="/facts/English-language_spelling_reform/j9v6nXC0">English-language spelling reform</a> has rarely been adopted otherwise. As a result, modern English orthography varies only minimally between countries and is far from <a href="/facts/Phonemic_orthography/wqndpTbB">phonemic</a> in any country. </p>