American English to British English Dictionary

A - E

A and P

A chain of supermarkets. I believe the letters stand for "Atlantic and Pacific" and that this in turn is short for the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the original and possibly still the company's official name. If anyone can confirm or correct this information, please EMail me using the link at the bottom of this page.

A and W

A chain of fast food restaurants and an associated brand of root beer (root beer is a soft drink). I would be very grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to what the letters A and W stand for - you can EMail me using the link at the bottom of this page.

AA

AAA

American Automobile Association. The AAA publish a large of number of high quality guide books on the USA, possibly only available to their members, or through an affiliation between the AAA and the British AA (Automobile Association). Many American motels display signs proclaiming them to be AAA recommended, and/or offer a discount to AAA members.

AARP

American Association of Retired Persons. Many American motels offer discounts to members of AARP. Visitors from other countries can usually obtain a similar discount upon providing proof of their age.

AC, A.C. or A/C

Air conditioning (or, occasionally, alternating current).

Access

This word is often used just by itself to refer to access to a public facility such as a park, restaurant or motel for handicapped people in wheelchairs. For example, in a list of such facilities, "Access" with a Y or a tick indicates that a particular facility is accessible by people in wheelchairs.

Agent

Any employee of a company who deals with the general public.

Adopt-a-Highway

In many parts of the USA "Adopt-a-Highway" signs indicate sections of roads which have been "adopted" by local citizens, businesses or other organisations, who ensure that their part of the highway is kept free of litter.

AKA

Alias. From "Also Known As".

Alaskan Pollock

See Pollock

Alumni

Former students of a University.

AMA

American Medical Association. 

Anasazi

The Anasazi were the ancient people who at one stage in their development built and lived in the cliff dwellings such as those found as Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado and at many other archaeological sites in the Desert Southwest of the United States. Since they left no written records, very little is known about the Anasazi, not even the name they gave themselves. The name Anasazi is from the Navajo Indian language and means "ancient ones".

Antenna

Aerial (radio aerial, television aerial, etc).

Area Code

Telephone dialling code. Each three digit area code can apply to an entire state or province, part of a state or province, a city, or part of a very large city. A few area codes are reserved for special numbers, such as 800 for toll-free numbers. A map of area codes is included in many road atlases, for example the one published by Rand McNally.

Athlete

The word "athlete" has a much wider meaning in the USA and Canada than in the UK, encompassing participants in most other sports such as American football, baseball and basketball. It probably doesn't extent as far as darts and snooker players, though.

Audubon

See article on the Odds and Ends page

Auto, Automobile

Car. The word "car" is also used universally.

Bathroom

The word "bathroom" can also refer to a toilet. If someone says "I need to go to the bathroom" they probably mean the toilet.

Bathroom Tissue

Toilet Paper.

Beltway

Ring Road.

Big Dipper

The Plough (the constellation).

Bigfoot

The American equivalent of the Himalayan Yeti (Abominable Snowman), with the same pseudo-scientific status. Called Sasquatch in Canada. A supposedly ape-like creature, heavily built, hairy, and capable of communicating only by means of grunts and cries.

BIL

Brother-in-law.

Billion

In the UK a billion is a million million, i.e. 1,000,000,000,000 or ten to the power of 12. In the USA a billion is a thousand million, i.e. 1,000,000,000 or ten to the power of 9.

Biscuit

A biscuit is a scone cut in half with a filling such as ham, bacon, egg (in omelette form), etc. Several of the fast food chains offer a variety of biscuits amongst their breakfast items. What the British call biscuits Americans and Canadians call cookies.

Bit

See Two Bits

Bleachers

Open air seating stands at a sports venue. The name comes from the effect of the sun's rays on the spectators.

BLM

Bureau of Land Management.

BLT

A hamburger with bacon, lettuce and tomato (and meat, of course).

Brights

Headlights (of a car).

Brownout

A reduction in mains electricity supply voltage, usually caused by a particularly heavy load during a period of peak usage. Because of the extensive use of air conditioning in the USA and Canada, brownouts can occur during the summer as well as in the winter.

Buck

A Dollar. Two bucks is two Dollars, etc. 

Buffalo Wings

Buffalo Wings are actually chicken wings, usually deep fried and smothered in seasonings or maybe a barbecue sauce. The degree of seasoning can range from mild to extremely spicy, and many establishments offer a choice of mild, medium or hot. In restaurants they are usually found on the appetiser menu and are popular as a happy hour food at many bars (usually spicy to encourage patrons to buy more beer). As far as why they are called Buffalo Wings, I think it is because they first became popular in Buffalo, New York. You might also hear them referred to as Hot Wings.

[Many thanks to John Hayes (jnhayes@austin360.com) for contributing this entry.]

Burrito

A Mexican food item.

A burrito consists of an edible soft flour tortilla "envelope" wrapped around and totally enclosing its contents of minced beef, lettuce, cheese, refried beans, sauce, sour cream, etc.

One burrito forms a reasonably substantial snack; two would form a good meal.

A breakfast burrito is a light snack, with a contents of diced cheese, egg, etc.

Business Route (or BR)

A route, usually paralleling a main highway, through a town. The opposite of a by-pass.

CA

Call Collect

Reverse Charges (telephone call).

Candy

What the British would call sweets.

Cajuns

See Acadia and The Cajuns

Car

As well as its normal British meaning, in the USA and Canada the word "car" can also refer to a railway carriage. 

Car Pool

Cart

Shopping trolley.

CC

See Closed Captioned

CCC

See Civilian Conservation Corps

Century 21

A nationwide chain of estate agents (called real estate agents or realtors in US English).

Chamber of Commerce

In the UK a Chamber of Commerce is a club for local businessmen. The phrase has a very different meaning in the USA and Canada, where a Chamber of Commerce is a local tourist information office, where in the vast majority of cases a wealth of useful information about the local area can be obtained. You can just stroll into the Chamber of Commerce in an American or Canadian town and browse around - they are nearly always well worth a visit.

A Chamber of Commerce in the USA or Canada is almost identical to a V V V in the Netherlands.

Checkers

Draughts (the board game).

Cheeseburger

See Hamburger

Checked Baggage

The suitcases (etc.) which you hand over when you check in for a flight, and which go in the aircraft's hold.

Chinook

A warm, dry wind which occurs in some parts of western Canada and the USA to the east of the Rockies, usually in spring I believe. A chinook can increase the air temperature by as much as 25 degrees Celsius in an hour. The painting "Waiting For a Chinook - The Last of 5000" by Charles M Russell, on display at the Montana Historical Society museum in Helena, Montana, depicts an emaciated cow, the last survivor of a herd, in a winter blizzard.

Chips

Potato crisps.

CIA

Central Intelligence Agency (USA).

City

Even a very small American town can be referred to as a city. It certainly doesn't need to have a cathedral.

City Manager

A person responsible for the running of the municipal functions of a city (i.e. a town). The position is somewhat analogous to a mayor, but with more of a clerical and less of a ceremonial role. I don't know if city managers are appointed or elected. Many other city officers such as the sheriff and heads of various other departments may be elected. Not all towns have city managers.

Class Action

The bringing of a court action by a group of people who have similar grievances. Typically class actions are brought by a group of consumers against manufacturers of defective or dangerous products, or who have failed to properly supply a service. If the class action succeeds then all the consumers will receive compensation from the guilty company. The concept of a class action is a good example of American law giving consumers a much fairer deal against defaulting companies than British law. 

Closed Captioned (CC)

Television subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, transmitted by a system very similar to teletext.

Civilian Conservation Corps

See article on the Odds and Ends page

CO

Co-Worker

Colleague.

Coach

Team manager (of a sports team).

Cobbler

A sweet dish consisting of pieces of pastry and fruit.

Colonial Period

The period of time between the founding of the American colonies and the Declaration of Independence.

Combo

In fast food restaurants, a "combo" consists of a main item such as a hamburger, together with fries (or similar side-order item) and a soft drink. The combo sells for considerably less than the total cost of the individual items. In the UK, the same concept is often called a "meal" or "meal deal".

In most fast food restaurants the combo's are intended as complete meals (excluding a dessert) for a single person. In Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken some combo's are designed for consumption by a party of people.

Comfort Station

Toilet.

Commonwealth

Officially Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia are called commonwealths. In normal usage they are usually called states.

Condo

Condominium. A block of flats (owner occupied rather than rented, I think).

Concession

A business operating on the property of another business or organisation. Frequently used to refer to a snack food stand operating in a National Park or similar area.

Consolidator

Bucket Shop - an organisation which sells air flights cheaply at the last minute.

Construction

Road works.

Continental Divide

A line, often marked on maps, to the west of which water flows to the Pacific and to the east of which water flows to the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico.

Convenience Store

A relatively small shop, but with a wide range of items including food, soft drinks, coffee, magazines, etc. A convenience store will have its own relatively small parking lot outside. Many convenience stores have petrol pumps, and are typically open for long hours or possibly twenty-four hours a day. Examples of national convenience store chains are 7-Eleven and Circle K, and there are many other regional chains. Prices for food items in convenience stores tend to be considerably higher than in supermarkets, but soft drinks and coffee can be cheap, and petrol prices are often lower than at normal gas stations.

Cookie

What the British would call a biscuit.

Cooperative Bank

The name given in New England to what is generally known elsewhere as a Savings and Loan Association.

Counter-clockwise

Anti-clockwise. 

Credit Union

A non-profit financial institution run for the benefit of its members. Credit Unions provide much lower interest rates for loans than would be available elsewhere. Loans provided by Credit Unions tend to be for relatively small purchases, not for buying houses. Some thirteen thousand Credit Unions operate in the USA with fifty-five million members between them. Credit Unions also operate in Canada (and in many European countries). In the USA a Savings and Loan Association performs a somewhat similar role to a British building society. 

Creole

In the American state of Louisiana, the word Creole refers to the white, French-speaking descendants of the early French or Spanish settlers, or to a person of mixed European and African blood. The word also refers to a style of cooking and even to a style of architecture.

The word has different meanings in other regions, for example in Latin America and in the West Indies.

Crossover

A place where you can legitimately perform a U-turn on a divided highway (dual carriageway).

Crosswalk

Pedestrian crossing. At road junctions controlled by traffic lights crosswalks are marked by two parallel solid white lines. Cars stop at the first white line when the traffic lights are red. Cars making turns at junctions must yield to pedestrians on crosswalks.

Dates

Americans usually write dates in the form mm/dd/yy (month/day/year), for example 7/4/98 is the Fourth of July 1998, not the seventh of April. You need to watch this when checking rates for different seasons in motel directories. To avoid any confusion we suggest that you write dates in the form dd-mmm-yy, for example 4-Jul-98 or 7-Apr-98.

We would also suggest that you carefully check which date format is required on the immigration and customs forms that you have to fill in on the plane before landing in the USA.

Canadians normally use the British date format, dd/mm/yy (day/month/year).

Daylight Saving Time

Summer time.

Decaff

See Regular or Decaff?

Dime

A ten cent coin.

Diaper

A baby's nappy.

Dirt

Earth, soil - the stuff plants grow in.

Divided Highway

Dual carriageway.

DMV

Department of Motor Vehicles (United States, probably an office of each individual state rather than a federal department). Responsible for the administration of car licences - the equivalent of the British road tax.

DOD

Department of Defence (United States).

DOE

Department of Energy (United States).

DOI

Department of The Interior (United States). Includes the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.

DOT

Department of Transport (United States).

DWI

Driving While Intoxicated.

Efficiencies

Kitchen facilities included with a motel room. In other words, self-catering.

El Niño

A climate phenomenon which occurs every two to seven years in the Pacific Ocean and which causes effects over large parts of the globe. In North America an El Niño event can cause heavy rain and flooding in California and unseasonably mild winters in the United States. In other places the effects of an El Niño can be considerably more serious.

Since the second "n" in "Niño" has a tilde (~) over it, the correct pronunciation is "El Ninyo".

Electrical Storm

Thunderstorm.

Elevator

A lift - a device used to transport people between the floors of a building by means of a box suspended in a vertical shaft by cables.

Enchilada

A Mexican food item.

I'm not certain, but an enchilada appears to be very similar to a burrito, but with different contents and flavour. Or, according to a different source, the difference is that a burrito has the tortilla folded so as to make an envelope which completely encloses its contents, whereas an enchilada has the tortilla wrapped around the contents so as to make a cylinder with much the same shape as cannelloni.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency (United States).

ER

Emergency Room, i.e. the Casualty (A and E - Accident and Emergency) department of a hospital.

Erector Set

A child's construction kit (Meccano, Lego, etc).

EZ, E-Z

Easy - from the American pronunciation of the name of the letter "Z" as "zee". 
Language Differences

Home | States/Provinces | Subjects