American English

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American English

American English (variously abbreviated AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US), also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set of dialect

Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class....
s of the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
used mostly in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Approximately two thirds of native speakers

First language

A first language is the language a human being learns from birth. A person's first language is a basis for sociolinguistic identity....
of English live in the United States

United States

Federal government

A federal government is the common government of a federation.The structure of federal governments vary from institution to institution based on a broad definition of federation....
has no official language, English is considered the de facto
De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning the fact" or in practice but not necessarily ordained by law. It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation....
language of the United States due to its widespread use.

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Encyclopedia

American English (variously abbreviated AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US), also known as United States English or U.S. English, is a set of dialect Dialect A dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.... s of the English language English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa... used mostly in the United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U... . Approximately two thirds of native speakers First language A first language is the language a human being learns from birth. A person's first language is a basis for sociolinguistic identity.... of English live in the United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U... . English is the most common language in the United States. Though the US Federal government Federal government A federal government is the common government of a federation.The structure of federal governments vary from institution to institution based on a broad definition of federation.... has no official language, English is considered the de facto De facto *De facto* is a Latin expression that means "concerning the fact" or in practice but not necessarily ordained by law. It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation.... language of the United States due to its widespread use. English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments. The use of English in the United States was inherited from British colonization British colonization of the Americas British colonization of the Americas began in the late 16th century, before reaching its peak after colonies were established throughout the Americas, and a protectorate was established over the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.... . The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. During that time, there were also speakers in North America of Spanish Spanish language Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade.... , French French language French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries.... , Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native... , German German language German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.... , Norwegian Norwegian language Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states.... , Swedish Swedish language Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands.... , Scots Scots language Scots or Lowland Scots refers to the Germanic Variety derived from Middle English spoken in parts of Lowland Scotland, Northern Ireland and the border areas of the Republic of Ireland.... , Welsh Welsh language Welsh ]], is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh Marches and in the Welsh settlement in Argentina in the Chubut Valley in Argentina Patagonia.... , Irish Irish language Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people.... , Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic language Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages.... , Finnish Finnish language Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden.... , Russian Russian language Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe.... (Alaska Alaska Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait.... ) and numerous Native American languages.
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Phonology

In many ways, compared to English English

English language in England

English language in England refers to the English language as spoken in England.There are many different accents and dialects throughout England and people are often very proud of their local accent or dialect, however there are many associated prejudices - illustrated by George Bernard Shaw's comment:...
, North American English is conservative in its phonology

Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada....
(for example, in Eastern New England and New York City), partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes. In addition, many speech communities on the East Coast have existed in their present locations longer than others. The interior of the United States, however, was settled by people from all regions of the existing U.S. and, therefore, developed a far more generic linguistic pattern.

Most North American speech is rhotic

Rhotic and non-rhotic accents

English language pronunciation is divided into two main Accent groups: A rhotic speaker pronounces the letter R in hard or water. A non-rhotic speaker does not....
, as English was in most places in the 17th century. Rhoticity was further supported by Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English language as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English and Irish languages....
and Scottish English

Scottish English

Scottish English refers to the Variety of English language spoken in Scotland. It may or may not include Scots language depending on the observer....
as well as the fact most regions of England at this time also had rhotic accents. In most varieties of North American English, the sound corresponding to the letter r is a retroflex

Retroflex approximant

The retroflex approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r`....
or alveolar approximant

Alveolar approximant

The alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents alveolar consonant and postalveolar consonant approximant consonant is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r....
rather than a trill or a tap. The loss of syllable-final r in North America is confined mostly to the accents of eastern New England

Boston accent

The Boston accent is found not only in the city of Boston, Massachusetts itself but also much of eastern Massachusetts. The Boston Accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine....
, New York City and surrounding areas, South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia

South Philadelphia, nicknamed "South Philly," is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west....
, and the coastal portions of the South

Southern American English

Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the U.S. Southern states of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the U.S....
. In rural tidewater Virginia and eastern New England

New England

New England is a region of the United States located in the northeastern corner of the country, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and New York State, and consisting of the modern U.S....
, 'r' is non-rhotic in accented (such as "bird", "work", "first", "birthday") as well as unaccented syllables, although this is declining among the younger generation of speakers. (Dropping of syllable-final r sometimes happens in natively rhotic dialects if r is located in unaccented syllables or words and the next syllable or word begins in a consonant. In England, the lost r was often changed into (schwa

Schwa

In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An stress and tone neutral vowel sound in any language, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel....
), giving rise to a new class of falling diphthong

Diphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel?that is, a unitary vowel that changes vowel quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a glissando of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held s...
s. Furthermore, the er sound of fur or butter, is realized in AmE as a monophthong

Monophthong

A monophthong is a "pure" vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not semivowel towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong....
al r-colored vowel

R-colored vowel

In phonetics, vocalic r refers to the phenomenon of a rhotic segment such as or occurring as the syllable nucleus. This is a feature of a number of Slavic languages such as Czech language, Macedonian language and Serbo-Croatian language, as well as some western Bulgarian language dialects....
(stressed or unstressed as represented in the IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic....
). This does not happen in the non-rhotic varieties of North American speech.

Some other British English changes in which most North American dialects do not participate:

The shift of to (the so-called "broad A") before alone or preceded by a homorganic nasal. This is the difference between the British Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British Accent ....
and American pronunciation of bath and dance. In the United States, only eastern New England speakers took up this modification, although even there it is becoming increasingly rare.
The realization of intervocalic as a glottal stop (as in for bottle). This change is not universal for British English and is not considered a feature of Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British Accent ....
. This is not a property of most North American dialects. Newfoundland English
Newfoundland English

Newfoundland English is a name for several dialects of English language found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, often regarded as the most distinctive dialect of English in Canada....
is a notable exception.

On the other hand, North American English has undergone some sound changes not found in Britain, especially not in its standard varieties. Many of these are instances of phonemic differentiation

Phonemic differentiation

Phonemic differentiation is the phenomenon of a language maximizing the acoustic distance between its phonemes, presumably to minimize the possibility of misunderstanding....
and include:

The merger of and , making father and bother rhyme. This change is nearly universal in North American English, occurring almost everywhere except for parts of eastern New England, hence the Boston accent
Boston accent

The Boston accent is found not only in the city of Boston, Massachusetts itself but also much of eastern Massachusetts. The Boston Accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine....
.
The merger of and . This is the so-called cot-caught merger, where cot and caught are homophone
Homophone

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as Carat , caret, and carrot, or to, two and too....
s. This change has occurred in eastern New England, in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh English

Pittsburgh English, popularly known as Pittsburghese, is the dialect of American English spoken by many residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States and surrounding Western Pennsylvania....
and surrounding areas, and from the Great Plains
Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
westward.

* For speakers who do not merge caught and cot: The replacement of the cot vowel with the caught vowel before voiceless fricatives (as in cloth, off [which is found in some old-fashioned varieties of RP]), as well as before (as in strong, long), usually in gone, often in on, and irregularly before (log, hog, dog, fog [which is not found in British English at all]).

The replacement of the lot vowel with the strut vowel in most utterances of the words was, of, from, what and in many utterances of the words everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody; the word because has either or ; want has normally or , sometimes .

Vowel merger
English-language vowel changes before historic r

The English language has undergone a number of phonological changes before the historic phoneme . In recent centuries, most or all of these changes have involved merging of vowel distinctions; in standard American English, for example, although there are ten or eleven stressed monophthongs, only five or six vowel contrasts are possible before...
before intervocalic . Which vowels are affected varies between dialects. One such change is the laxing of , and to , and before , causing pronunciations like , and for pair, peer and pure. The resulting sound is often further reduced to , especially after palatals
Palatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate . Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex consonant....
, so that cure, pure, mature and sure rhyme with fir.
Dropping of after alveolar consonant
Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the Dental alveolus of the superior teeth....
s so that new, duke, Tuesday, suit, resume, lute are pronounced , , , , , .
æ-tensing
Phonological history of English short A

The pronunciation of "short A" varies in English language....
in environments that vary widely from accent to accent; for example, for many speakers, is approximately realized as before nasal consonant
Nasal consonant

A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered soft palate in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound, but the air does not escape through the mouth as it is blocked by the tongue....
s. In some accents, particularly those from Philadelphia to New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, and can even contrast sometimes, as in Yes, I can vs. tin can .
The flapping of intervocalic and to alveolar tap
Alveolar tap

The alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental consonant, alveolar consonant, and postalveolar consonant flap consonant is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 4....
before unstressed vowels (as in butter, party) and syllabic (bottle), as well as at the end of a word or morpheme before any vowel (what else, whatever). Thus, for most speakers, pairs such as ladder/latter, metal/medal, and coating/coding are pronounced the same. For many speakers, this merger is incomplete and does not occur after ; these speakers tend to pronounce writer with and rider with . This is a form of Canadian raising
Canadian raising

Canadian raising is a phonetic phenomenon that occurs in varieties of the English language, especially Canadian English, in which diphthongs are "raised" before phonation consonants ....
but, unlike more extreme forms of that process, does not affect .
Both intervocalic and may be realized as or , making winter and winner homophones. This does not occur when the second syllable is stressed, as in entail.
The pin-pen merger, by which is raised to before nasal consonants, making pairs like pen/pin homophonous. This merger originated in Southern American English
Southern American English

Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the U.S. Southern states of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the U.S....
but is now found in parts of the Midwest and West as well.

Some mergers found in most varieties of both American and British English include:

The merger
English-language vowel changes before historic r

The English language has undergone a number of phonological changes before the historic phoneme . In recent centuries, most or all of these changes have involved merging of vowel distinctions; in standard American English, for example, although there are ten or eleven stressed monophthongs, only five or six vowel contrasts are possible before...
of the vowels and before 'r', making pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning, etc. homophones.
The wine-whine merger making pairs like wine/whine, wet/whet, Wales/whales, wear/where, etc. homophone
Homophone

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as Carat , caret, and carrot, or to, two and too....
s, in most cases eliminating , the voiceless labiovelar fricative. Many older varieties of southern and western AmE still keep these distinct, but the merger appears to be spreading.

Vocabulary

North America has given the English lexicon

Lexicon

In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes....
many thousands of words, meanings, and phrases. Several thousand are now used in English as spoken internationally; others, however, died within a few years of their creation.

Creation of an American lexicon

The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the Native American languages. Examples of such names are opossum, raccoon
Raccoon

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most widespread species, the Raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are considerably lesser-known....
, squash
Squash (fruit)

Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita native to Mexico and Central America, also called marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker....
and moose
Moose

File:Alces alces NA.svgThe moose or elk , , is the largest Extant taxon species in the deer family . Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a "twig-like" configuration....
(from Algonquian). Other Native American loanwords, such as wigwam
Wigwam

A wigwam or wickiup is a domed single-room dwelling used by certain Indigenous peoples of the Americas tribes. The term wickiup is generally used to label these kinds of dwellings in Southwestern United States and West....
or moccasin
Moccasin

Moccasin may refer to:...
, describe artificial objects in common use among Native Americans. The languages of the other colonizing nations also added to the American vocabulary; for instance, cookie
Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat-baked treat, containing milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, etc. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings?a cookie is a plain bu...
, cruller
Cruller

A traditional cruller is a twisted, oblong, fried pastry made of dough somewhat like that of a cake doughnut, often topped with plain powdered sugar; powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon; or icing ....
, stoop

Stoop

Stoop may refer to:* Adrian Stoop , English-naturalised rugby union player* Georgie Stoop , English professional tennis player* Urban stoop, a small staircase or porch...
, and pit (of a fruit) from Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
; levee
Levee

A levee, lev?e, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels....
, portage ("carrying of boats or goods") and (probably) gopher
Gopher (animal)

A gopher is a small burrowing rodent that comes in many varieties including:* Pocket gophers of the family Geomyidae, native to North America, also called true gophers....
from French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
; barbecue
Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or Basting barbecue sauce to the meat....
, stevedore
Stevedore

The words stevedore, docker, dock labourer and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
, and rodeo
Rodeo

Rodeo is a sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia....
from Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
.

Among the earliest and most notable regular "English" additions to the American vocabulary, dating from the early days of colonization through the early 19th century, are terms describing the features of the North American landscape; for instance, run, branch, fork, snag
Snag

In forest ecology, a snag refers to a standing, partly or completely dead tree, often missing a top or most of the smaller branches, while in Limnology it refers to trees, branches and other pieces of naturally occurring wood found in a sunken form in rivers and streams....
, bluff
Bluff

Bluff may refer to:* a type of deception, an empty boast...
, gulch
Gulch

A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry Creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully....
, neck (of the woods), barrens, bottomland, notch, knob, riffle, rapid
Rapid

File:Rapids.jpgFile:!downstream river1.jpgA rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient causing an increase in water [velocity and turbulence....
s, watergap, cutoff, trail
Trail

A trail is a path or road used for walking, cycling, cross-country skiing, or other activities. Some trails are off-limits to everyone other than hikers, and a few trails allow motorized vehicles....
, timberline and divide
Water divide

A drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins . In hilly country, the divide lies along topography pyramidal peak and ridges, but in flat country the divide may be invisible – just a more or less notional line on the ground on either side of which falling...
. Already existing words such as creek
Stream

A stream is a body of water less than 60 feet wide with a current , confined within a stream bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, Burn , creek, crick, kill, lick , rill, river syke, bayou, rivu...
, slough
Slough (wetland)

The word slough has several meanings related to wetland or aquatic features.The etymology is related to the Dutch word 'slechten' = to lower, to cut, to destroy....
, sleet
Sleet

Sleet may refer to:*Rain and snow mixed, particularly in countries where British English is spoken*Ice pellets, mainly within the United States...
and (in later use) watershed
Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean....
received new meanings that were unknown in England.

Other noteworthy American toponyms are found among loanwords; for example, prairie
Prairie

Prairie refers to temperate grasslands of North America. These are areas of low topographic relief that historically supported grasses and herbs, with few or no trees, having a generally mesic habitat climate....
, butte
Butte

A butte is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small relatively flat top, smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table s. In some regions the word is simply used for any hill....
(French); bayou
Bayou

A bayou is a small, slow-moving stream or creek, or a lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream. Bayous are usually located in relatively flat, low-lying areas, for example, in the Mississippi River River delta region of the southern United States....
(Choctaw

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native Americans in the United States people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean languages group....
via Louisiana French); coulee
Coulee

Coulee is applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone.The word coulee comes from the Quebec French coul?e, from French language word couler meaning "to flow"....
(Canadian French, but used also in Louisiana with a different meaning); canyon
Canyon

A canyon, or gorge, is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level....
, mesa
Mesa

A mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
, arroyo
Arroyo (creek)

An arroyo , also called a wash or draw, is a usually dry stream bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally....
(Spanish); vlei, kill
Kill (body of water)

As a body of water, a kill is a stream. The word comes from the Middle Dutch language kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
(Dutch, Hudson Valley

Hudson Valley

The Hudson Valley refers to the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, generally from northern Westchester County, New York northward to the cities of Albany, New York and Troy, New York....
).

The word corn, used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the plant Zea mays, the most important crop in the U.S., originally named Indian corn by the earliest settlers; wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc. came to be collectively referred to as grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
(or breadstuffs). Other notable farm related vocabulary additions were the new meanings assumed by barn
Barn

A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house animals or to store farming vehicles and equipment....
(not only a building for hay and grain storage, but also for housing livestock) and team (not just the horses, but also the vehicle along with them), as well as, in various periods, the terms range
Rangeland

this is not realRangeland refers to expansive, mostly unimproved lands on which a significant proportion of the natural vegetation is native grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, and shrubs....
, (corn) crib
Corn crib

A corn crib or corncrib is a type of granary used to dry and store maize.After the harvest, corn, still on the corn cob, is placed in the crib either with or without the husk....
, truck, elevator
Grain elevator

Grain elevators are buildings or complexes of buildings for storage and shipment of grain. They were invented in 1842 in Buffalo, New York, by Joseph Dart, who first developed a steam-powered mechanism, called a marine leg, for scooping grain out of the hulls of ships directly into storage silos....
, sharecropping
Sharecropping

Sharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land ....
and feedlot
Feedlot

A feedlot or feedyard is a type of Factory farming#Confined Animal Feeding Operations which is used for finishing livestock, notably beef cattle, prior to slaughter....
.

Ranch
Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool....
, later applied to a house style, derives from Mexican Spanish

Mexican Spanish

Mexican Spanish is the dialect of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico.Spanish was brought to present day Mexico around 500 years ago. As a result of Mexico City's central role in the colonial administration of Viceroyalty of New Spain, the population of the city included relatively large numbers of speakers from Spain....
; most Spanish contributions came after the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
, with the opening of the West. Among these are, other than toponyms, chaps
Chaps

Chaps are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt. They are buckled on over trousers with the chaps' integrated belt, but unlike trousers they have no seat and are not joined at the crotch....
(from chaparreras), plaza
Plaza

Plaza is a Spanish language word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing...
, lasso
Lasso

A lasso, lariat, or riata is a loop of rope that is designed to be thrown around a target and tighten when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the American cowboy....
, bronco
Bronco

Bronco, or bronc, is a term used in the United States and Canada to refer to an horse training horse or one that habitually buckings. It may refer to a feral horse that has lived in the wild its entire life, but is also used to refer to domestic horses not yet fully trained to saddle, and hence prone to unpredictable behavior, particu...
, buckaroo
Buckaroo

Buckaroo may refer to:* Buckaroo, a Cowboy#California of the vaquero tradition* "Bronze Buckaroo", a nickname given to musician Herbert Jeffreys...
, rodeo
Rodeo

Rodeo is a sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia....
; examples of "English" additions from the cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks....
era are bad man, maverick, chuck ("food") and Boot Hill
Boot Hill

Boot Hill is the name for any number of cemetery, chiefly in the American West. During the 19th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of Gunslinger, or those who "died with their boots on" ....
; from the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California, California....
came such idioms as hit pay dirt or strike it rich. The word blizzard probably originated in the West. A couple of notable late 18th century additions are the verb belittle and the noun bid, both first used in writing by Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States....
.

With the new continent developed new forms of dwelling, and hence a large inventory of words designating real estate concepts (land office, lot
Lot

Lot may refer to:In economics and business:*Lot , a tract of land** Parking lot, for automobiles*Lot, a set of goods, together for sale in an auction...
, outlands, waterfront
Waterfront

Waterfront may refer to:*The dockland district of a town*Waterfront a musical band with a hit, Cry in the 1980s.*Waterfront Records, an Australian record label....
, the verbs locate and relocate, betterment, addition, subdivision), types of property (log cabin
Log cabin

A log cabin is a small house built from loggings. It is a simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." "Log cabin" generally denotes a simple one, or one-and-one-half story structure, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less architecturally sophisticated....
, adobe
Adobe

Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material , which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun....
in the 18th century; frame house, apartment
Apartment

An apartment is a self-contained House unit that occupies only part of a Apartment building. Apartments may be owned or rented .A common alternative term for apartment is flat....
, tenement house, shack
Shack

A shack is a type of small house that is in disrepair. The word may derive from the Nahuatl language word xacalli or "adobe house" by way of Mexican Spanish xacal/jacal, which has the same meaning as "shack"....
, shanty
Shanty

Shanty may refer to:* Ice shanty, a portable shed placed on a frozen lake* Sea shanty, shipboard working songs* Shanty Hogan , Major League Baseball catcher...
in the 19th century; project, condominium
Condominium

A condominium, or condo, is a form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership...
, townhouse
Townhouse

Historically in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries, a townhouse was a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city....
, split-level, mobile home
Mobile home

Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabrication homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied....
, multi-family in the 20th century), and parts thereof (driveway
Driveway

A driveway is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group....
, breezeway, backyard, dooryard; clapboard
Clapboard

Clapboard may refer to:*Clapboard , a building material*Clapperboard, a film production tool...
, siding
Siding

Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly impact its property value....
, trim, baseboard
Baseboard

In architecture, a baseboard is a board, covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the joint between the wall surface and the floor....
; stoop (from Dutch), family room, den; and, in recent years, HVAC
HVAC

HVAC is an initialism or acronym that stands for "heating, Ventilation , and air conditioning". HVAC is sometimes referred to as climate control and is particularly important in the design of medium to large industrial and office buildings such as skyscrapers and in marine environments such as aquariums, where humidity and tem...
, central air, walkout basement).

Ever since the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
, a great number of terms connected with the U.S. political institutions have entered the language; examples are run, gubernatorial, primary election
Primary election

A primary election , also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election....
, carpetbagger
Carpetbagger

In United States history, carpetbaggers was the term southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era of the United States, between 1865 and 1877....
(after the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
), repeater, lame duck
Lame duck (politics)

A lame duck is an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure, and especially an official whose successor has already been elected....
and pork barrel
Pork barrel

Pork barrel is a derogatory term referring to Appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district....
. Some of these are internationally used (e.g. caucus
Caucus

A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States. The exact definition varies among political cultures....
, gerrymander, filibuster
Filibuster

A filibuster, or "talking out a bill", is a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body. An attempt is made to infinitely extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay the progress or completely prevent a vote on the proposal taking place....
, exit poll
Exit poll

An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. Unlike an opinion poll, which asks whom the voter plans to vote for or some similar formulation, an exit poll asks whom the voter actually voted for....
).

The rise of capitalism, the development of industry and material innovations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were the source of a massive stock of distinctive new words, phrases and idioms. Typical examples are the vocabulary of railroading (see further at rail terminology

Rail terminology

Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term railroad and the British term railway is the most obvious trans-Atlantic difference in rail terminology ....
) and transport
Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of passenger and cargo from one location to another. Transport is performed by various modes of transport, such as aviation, rail transport, road transport, ship transport, cable transport, pipeline transport and space transport....
ation terminology, ranging from names of roads (from dirt roads and back roads to freeway
Freeway

A freeway is a type of road designed for Road safety#Motorway high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections....
s and parkway
Parkway

In the United States, Parkways are defined as follows:#A type of road##A broad landscaped thoroughfare; especially : one from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded....
s) to road infrastructure (parking lot
Parking lot

Parking lot is a cleared area that is more or less level and is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
, overpass
Overpass

An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An overpass structure is one that carries a higher capacity road above a lower capacity road, whereas a structure that permits a lower capacity road to travel above a larger capacity road is an underpass....
, rest area
Rest area

A rest area, travel plaza, rest stop, or service area is a public facility, located next to a large thoroughfare such as a highway, expressway, or freeway at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting on to secondary roads....
), and from automotive terminology to public transit (e.g. in the sentence "riding the subway downtown"); such American introductions as commuter (from commutation ticket), concourse
Concourse

A concourse is a place where Trail or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space....
, to board (a vehicle), to park, double-park and parallel park (a car), double decker
Double decker

A double-decker is a vehicle that has two levels for passengers or cargo, one deck above the other. Such vehicles include:* Aerial tramway* Bilevel car...
or the noun terminal have long been used in all dialects of English. Trades of various kinds have endowed (American) English with household words describing jobs and occupations (bartender
Bartender

A bartender serves beverages behind a Bar in a Bar , Public house, tavern, or similar establishment. This usually includes alcoholic beverages of some kind, such as beer , wine, and/or cocktails, as well as soft drinks or other non-alcoholic beverages....
, longshoreman, patrolman, hobo
Hobo

Hobo is a term that refers to migrants, particularly those who make a habit of freighthopping. The iconic image of a hobo is that of an itinerant beggar, one that was solidified in American culture during the Great Depression....
, bouncer
Bouncer (doorman)

A bouncer or doorman is an informal term for a security guard employed at venues such as Bar , nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check Age of majority, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as drunkenness, aggressive behaviour, or other standards....
, bellhop, roustabout
Roustabout

A roustabout is a Manual labour typically performing temporary, unskilled work. The term has traditionally been used to refer to traveling-circus workers or oil rig workers....
, white collar, blue collar
Blue collar

Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class...
, employee, boss [from Dutch], intern
Intern

An intern or stagiaire is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making it similar to an apprenticeship....
, busboy
Busboy

Busboy or busser are a term used in the United States of someone that works in the restaurant and catering industry clearing dirty dishes, taking the dirty dishes to the dishwasher, setting tables, and otherwise assisting the waiting staff ....
, mortician, senior citizen
Senior citizen

Senior citizen is a general designation for persons who have reached a certain age, which may vary by different standards. It is often used for legal or policy-related reasons in determining who is eligible for certain benefits available to the age group....
), businesses and workplaces (department store
Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant Merchandise#Product_line....
, supermarket
Supermarket

A supermarket is a self-service Retailing#Retail types offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments....
, thrift store, gift shop
Gift shop

A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic, often to simply provide evidence that the consumer has visited that location....
, drugstore
Drugstore

Drugstore is a common American term for a pharmacy.Drugstore could also refer to:* Drugstore , a United Kingdom-based pop rock trio.* Drugstore , the 1995 debut album recorded by the band Drugstore ....
, motel
Motel

File:Motel6Lima.JPGEntering dictionary after World War II, the word motel, a portmanteau of motor and hotel or motorists' hotel, referred initially to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and, in some circumstances, a common area; or a series of small cabins with commo...
, main street
Main Street

Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world....
, gas station, hardware store
Hardware store

Hardware stores sell household hardware including: fasteners, hand tools, power tools, Key , Lock , hinges, Link chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, housewares, tools, utensils, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for use at home or for business....
, savings and loan, hock [also from Dutch]), as well as general concepts and innovations (automated teller machine
Automated teller machine

An automated teller machine is a computerized telecommunications device that provides the customers of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller....
, smart card
Smart card

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is in any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits which can process data....
, cash register
Cash register

A cash register is a mechanical or electronic device for calculating and recording sales transactions, and an attached cash drawer for storing currency....
, dishwasher
Dishwasher

A dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishware and cutlerys. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes....
, reservation [as at hotels], pay envelope, movie, mileage, shortage, outage
Power outage

A power outage refers to the short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network....
, blood bank
Blood bank

A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or List of human blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusions....
).

Already existing English words —such as store
General store

The general store or general merchandise store is a store that carries a general line of merchandise.In Australia, Canada and the United States, a store named or subtitled "general store" is traditionally a retailer located in a small town or in a rural area....
, shop
Retailing

Retailing consists of the sales of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser....
, dry goods, haberdashery, lumber
Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from logging through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
— underwent shifts in meaning; some —such as mason
Mason

A mason is a worker who builds with concrete, brick or stone, otherwise known as masonry.Mason may also refer to:...
, student, clerk
Clerk

Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks....
, the verbs can (as in "canned goods"), ship, fix, carry, enroll (as in school), run (as in "run a business"), release and haul— were given new significations, while others (such as tradesman
Tradesman

A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman's status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade....
) have retained meanings that disappeared in England. From the world of business and finance came breakeven
Breakeven

In economics & business, specifically cost accounting, the break-even point is the point at which cost or expenses and revenue are equal: there is no net loss or gain, and one has "broken even"....
, merger, delisting
Delisting

Delisting can mean:*Delisting , the removal of a stock from a stock exchange*Delisting , the removal of medical coverage for a certain operation by medicare ...
, downsize, disintermediation
Disintermediation

In economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate , companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet....
, bottom line
Bottom Line

The Bottom Line was an intimate music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village, at 15 West Fourth Street between Broadway and Washington Square Park....
; from sports terminology came, jargon aside, Monday-morning quarterback, cheap shot, game plan (football

American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
); in the ballpark, out of left field, off base, hit and run, and many other idioms

English language idioms derived from baseball

B * ballpark: in the ballpark, ballpark figure, and out of the ballpark — "Ballpark" has been used to mean a broad area of approximation or similarity, or a range within which comparison is possible; this usage OED dates to 1960....
from baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score run by hitting a thrown Baseball with a baseball bat and touching a series of four markers called base arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team take turns hitting against...
; gamblers coined bluff
Bluff (poker)

In the card game of poker, to bluff is to bet or raise with an inferior hand. This is useful because it can cause other players to believe the bluffing player has a dominant hand, so that they all fold; the bluffing player then wins the pot....
, blue chip
Blue chip

A blue chip stock is the stock of a well-established corporation having stable earnings and no extensive liability. The term derives from casinos, where blue chips stand for counters of the highest value....
, ante, bottom dollar, raw deal, pass the buck, ace in the hole, freeze-out, showdown; miners coined bedrock
Bedrock

File:Rockhead1.jpg.JPGIn stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated Rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth....
, bonanza, peter out, pan out and the verb prospect from the noun; and railroadmen are to be credited with make the grade, sidetrack, head-on, and the verb railroad. A number of Americanisms describing material innovations remained largely confined to North America: elevator
Elevator

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston....
, ground
Ground (electricity)

In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
, gasoline
Gasoline

File:GasCan.jpgGasoline or petrol is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture, primarily used as fuel in internal combustion engines.It consists mostly of aliphatic hydrocarbons, enhanced with iso-octane or the aromatic hydrocarbons toluene and benzene to increase its octane rating....
; many automotive terms fall in this category, although many do not (hatchback
Hatchback

Hatchback is a term designating an automobile design, containing a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind the vehicle by a single, top-hinged tailgate or large flip-up window....
, SUV, station wagon
Station wagon

A station wagon in American English, Australian English, Canadian English and New Zealand English usage and an estate car in British English usage, is a passenger automobile with a car body style similar to a sedan but with the roofline following the full, sometimes extended rear cargo area, i.e. ending with a more vertical door...
, tailgate
Tailgate

Tailgate is an American English word denoting the door or 'gate' at the back of a station wagon, pickup truck, SUV or other similar type of vehicle that is hinged at the bottom and can be opened for the convenience in loading cargo into the rear of the vehicle....
, motorhome, truck
Truck

File:Red truck USA.JPGA truck is a type of motor vehicle commonly used for carrying goods and materials. Some light trucks are relatively small, similar in size to a passenger automobile....
, pickup truck
Pickup truck

A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling heavy loads....
, to exhaust).

In addition to the above-mentioned loans from French, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Dutch, and Native American languages, other accretions from foreign languages came with 19th and early 20th century immigration; notably, from Yiddish

Yiddish language

Yiddish is a non-territorial High German languages of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. Unlike other such languages, Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet as opposed to a Latin alphabet....
(chutzpah
Chutzpah

Chutzpah is the quality of Audacity , for good or for bad. The word derives from the Hebrew language word , meaning "insolence", "audacity", and "impertinence." The modern English language usage of the word has taken on a wider spectrum of meaning, however, having been popularized through vernacular use, film, literature, and televisio...
, schmooze and such idioms as need something like a hole in the head) and German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
—hamburger
Hamburger

A hamburger consists of a cooked ground meat patty, usually beef, placed in a sliced bun or between pieces of bread or toast. Hamburgers are often served with various condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish etc....
and culinary terms like frankfurter/franks, liverwurst, sauerkraut, wiener
Wiener

Wiener is German language for Vienna, but may also refer to:* A hot dog, from German "Wiener W?rstchen", meaning "Viennese small sausage"* A slang term for penis...
, deli(catessen)
Delicatessen

Delicatessen is a term meaning "delicacies" or "fine foods". The word entered English via German language,with the old German spelling , plural of Delicatesse "delicacy", ultimately from Latin delicatus....
; scram
Scram

A scram or SCRAM is an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor – though the term has been extended to cover shutdowns of other complex operations, such as server farms and even large model railroads ....
, kindergarten
Kindergarten

is a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction....
, gesundheit
Gesundheit

Gesundheit is the German language and Yiddish word for health. When a person sneezes, German, Yiddish, and North American English speakers typically say Gesundheit! to wish them good health, serving much the same purpose as "bless you" in English or "? vos souhaits!" in French....
; musical terminology (whole note
Whole note

In music, a whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note , and no note stem . Its length is typically equal to four beats in 4/4 time signature....
, half note
Half note

In music, a half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note . In time signatures with a denominator of 4, such as 4/4 or 3/4 time, the half note is two beat long....
, etc.); and apparently cookbook
Cookbook

A cookbook is a book that contains information on cooking, and/or a list of recipes. It may also contain information on ingredient origin, freshness, selection and quality, e.g., the Slow Food movement's ark of taste criteria....
, fresh ("impudent") and what gives? Such constructions as Are you coming with? and I like to dance (for "I like dancing") may also be the result of German or Yiddish influence.

Finally, a large number of English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin; some have lost their American flavor (from OK
Okay

Okay, frequently spelled OK and occasionally okeh is a colloquial English language word denoting approval, assent, or acknowledgment....
and cool to nerd
Nerd

Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more Social relation or popular activities....
and 24/7
24/7

24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption....
), while others have not (have a nice day
Have a Nice Day

Have a nice day is a commonly spoken valediction, typically spoken by service employees or clerks to customers at the end of a transaction, particularly in North America....
, sure); many are now distinctly old-fashioned (swell, groovy). Some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey
Disc jockey

A disc jockey is a person who selects and plays sound recording for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc refers to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling....
, boost, bulldoze and jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, originated as American slang. Among the many English idioms of U.S. origin are get the hang of, take for a ride, bark up the wrong tree, keep tabs, run scared, take a backseat, have an edge over, stake a claim, take a shine to, in on the ground floor, bite off more than one can chew, off/on the wagon, stay put, inside track, stiff upper lip
Stiff upper lip

One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises self control in the expression of emotion. The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom keep a stiff upper lip, and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people, who are sometimes perceived by other cultures as bein...
, bad hair day, throw a monkey wrench
Monkeywrenching

Monkeywrenching is economic warfare by sabotage, or ecotage, with the intent to slow down or halt activities which the monkeywrencher perceives as destructive....
, under the weather, jump bail, come clean, come again?, it ain't over till it's over, what goes around comes around, and will the real x please stand up?

Morphology

American English has always shown a marked tendency to use nouns as verbs

Functional shift

In linguistics, functional shift occurs when an existing word takes on a new syntax. For example, the word like , formerly only used as a preposition in comparisons , is now also used in the same way as the subordinating conjunction as in many dialects of English ....
. Examples of verbed nouns are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, room, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, belly-ache, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, service (as a car), corner, torch, exit (as in "exit the lobby"), factor (in mathematics), gun ("shoot"), author (which disappeared in English around 1630 and was revived in the U.S. three centuries later) and, out of American material, proposition, graft (bribery), bad-mouth, vacation, major, backpack
Backpack

A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions....
, backtrack
Backtracking

Backtracking is a general algorithm for finding all solutions to some computational problem, that incrementally builds candidates to the solutions, and abandons each partial candidate c as soon as it determines that c cannot possibly be completed to a valid solution ....
, intern, ticket (traffic violations), hassle, blacktop
Blacktop

Blacktop may refer to:*asphalt concrete, a composite material commonly used for construction of pavement, highways and parking lots* bituminous macadams...
, peer-review, dope and OD
Drug overdose

The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced....
.

Compound

Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....
s coined in the U.S. are for instance foothill, flatlands
Flatlands

Flatlands is a type of terrain similar to savanna and grassland....
, badlands
Badlands

A badlands is a type of arid terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively Erosion by wind and water. It can resemble malpa?s, a terrain of volcanic rocks....
, landslide
Landslide

File:Guatemala landslide.jpgA landslide is a List of geological phenomena which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments....
(in all senses), overview
Overview

Overview may refer to:* A generalised treatment of a topic, cf. summary, outline.* Overview * An overview Article Other uses* Overview an American indie rock band....
(the noun), backdrop
Backdrop

Backdrop may refer to:* Theatrical scenery* Filming location* Suplex#Belly_to_back_suplex that's also called a belly to back suplex....
, teenager, brainstorm
Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming....
, bandwagon
Bandwagon

Bandwagon may refer to:* Bandwagon effect, "copycat" behaviour* argumentum ad numerum, or the bandwagon fallacy: "If many believe so, it is so."...
, hitchhike, smalltime, deadbeat
Deadbeat

Deadbeat is the stage name of Scott Montieth, a Canada electronica musician. Originally from Kitchener, Ontario, Montieth currently works and lives in Berlin....
, frontman, lowbrow and highbrow, hell-bent, foolproof, nitpick, about-face (later verbed), upfront (in all senses), fixer-upper, no-show; many of these are phrases used as adverbs or (often) hyphenated attributive adjectives: non-profit, for-profit, free-for-all, ready-to-wear, catchall, low-down, down-and-out, down and dirty, in-your-face, nip and tuck; many compound nouns and adjectives are open: happy hour
Happy hour

"Happy hour" is a marketing term for a period of time in which a restaurant or bar offers discounts on alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine and cocktails....
, fall guy
Fall guy

A fall guy is a person used as a scapegoat to take the blame for someone else's actions, or someone at the butt of jokes. One placed in the position of fall guy is often referred to as "taking the fall"....
, capital gain
Capital gain

A capital gain is a profit that results from investments into a capital asset, such as stocks, bonds or real estate, which exceeds the purchase price....
, road trip
Road Trip

Road Trip is a 2000 in film comedy film written by Todd Phillips and Scott Armstrong and directed by Phillips. It is about the story of Josh who accidentally sends a video of him and his love interest to his childhood sweethart Tiffany and has to try to get the video back before Tiffany returns to school and before his session with phi...
, wheat pit, head start, plea bargain
Plea bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence....
; some of these are colorful (empty nester, loan shark
Loan shark

A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at high interest rates to individuals, often backed by blackmail or threats of violence....
, ambulance chaser, buzz saw, ghetto blaster
Ghetto Blaster

Ghetto Blaster is a computer game that was released for the Commodore 64 in 1985.See also* Boombox...
, dust bunny), others are euphemistic (differently abled, human resources
Human resources

Human resources is a term with which organizations describe the combination of traditionally administrative personnel functions with performance, Employee Relations and Resource planning....
, physically challenged, affirmative action
Affirmative action

The term affirmative action refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and public contracting to educational outreach and health programs ....
, correctional facility).

Many compound nouns have the form verb plus preposition: add-on
Add-on

Add-on may refer to:* Add-on , a software bundle that allows the user to extend and customize Mozilla-based applications.** Mozilla Add-ons, the official Mozilla Foundation website that acts as a repository for add-ons for Mozilla-based applications....
, stopover, lineup, shakedown
Shakedown

Shakedown may refer to:* Shakedown , a type of plastic deformation* Shakedown , a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft...
, tryout, spin-off
Spin-off

A spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as a television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator....
, rundown
Rundown

A rundown, also called a pickle, is a situation in the game of baseball that occurs when the baserunner is stranded between two bases and is tag out....
("summary"), shootout
Shootout

A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements; it could also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs....
, holdup, hideout, comeback, cookout, kickback
Kickback

Kickback usually refers to:* Political corruption#Kickbacks* BriberyIt can also refer to:*The sports section of the long defunct The Channel Four Daily...
, makeover
Makeover

A makeover is a term applied to changing one's human physical appearance, sometimes through cosmetics. Makeovers can range from something as simple as a new haircut, to the use of cosmetic surgery, to the extreme of the implantation of veneer , eye-color-changing contact lenses, and the use of appearance-altering gastric bypass surgeries, pro...
, takeover
Takeover

In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the mergers and acquisitions of a private company....
, rollback ("decrease"), rip-off, come-on, shoo-in, fix-up, tie-in, tie-up ("stoppage"), stand-in. These essentially are nouned phrasal verb

Phrasal verb

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit....
s; some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin (spell out, figure out, hold up, brace up, size up, rope in, back up/off/down/out, step down, miss out on, kick around, cash in, rain out, check in and check out (in all senses), fill in ("inform"), kick in ("contribute"), square off, sock in, sock away, factor in/out, come down with, give up on, lay off (from employment), run into and across ("meet"), stop by, pass up, put up (money), set up ("frame"), trade in, pick up on, pick up after, lose out.

Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive. Some verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, itemize, editorialize, customize, notarize, weatherize
Weatherization

Weatherization or weatherproofing is the practice of protecting a building and its interior from the elements, particularly from sunlight, precipitation , and wind, and of modifying a building to reduce energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency....
, winterize, Mirandize
Miranda v. Arizona

Miranda v. Arizona , , was a Landmark decision 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which was argued February 28?March 1, 1966 and decided June 13, 1966....
; and so are some back-formation

Back-formation

In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1897....
s (locate, fine-tune, evolute, curate, donate, emote, upholster, peeve and enthuse). Among syntactical constructions that arose in the U.S. are as of (with dates and times), outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, convince someone to…, not to be about to and lack for.

Americanisms formed by alteration of existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, pry (as in "pry open," from prize), putter (verb), buddy, sundae
Sundae

The sundae is an ice cream dessert. It typically consists of a scoop of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup , and in some cases other toppings such as chopped nuts, whipped cream, or maraschino cherry....
, skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in the U.S. are for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, grounded (of a child), punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "through train," or meaning "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky. American blend

Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
s include motel
Motel

File:Motel6Lima.JPGEntering dictionary after World War II, the word motel, a portmanteau of motor and hotel or motorists' hotel, referred initially to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and, in some circumstances, a common area; or a series of small cabins with commo...
, guesstimate, infomercial
Infomercial

Infomercials are long-format television Television advertisement, typically five minutes or longer.. Infomercials are also known as paid programming ....
and televangelist.

English words that survived in the United States

A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
or Early Modern English

Early Modern English

Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not comm...
and that always have been in everyday use in the United States dropped out in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots

Lowland Scots can refer to:* people of Lowland Scotland* Scots language...
. Terms such as fall ("autumn"), pavement
Pavement (material)

Road surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain traffic . Such surfaces are frequently road surface marking....
(to mean "road surface", where in Britain, as in Philadelphia, it is the equivalent of "sidewalk"), faucet, diaper
Diaper

A diaper or nappy is a sponge-like garment which people wear who are incapable of controlling their Urinary bladder or bowel movements, or are unable or unwilling to use a toilet....
, candy
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
, skillet
Frying pan

A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a cooking pan used for frying, searing, and Maillard reaction foods. It is typically a 20 to 30 cm diameter flat pan with flared sides and no lid....
, eyeglasses, crib
Infant bed

An infant bed is a small bed specifically for infants, generally up to 3 years old.Infant beds are most common in North America, Europe, and Australia....
(for a baby), obligate, and raise a child are often regarded as Americanisms. Gotten (past participle of get) is often considered to be an Americanism, although there are some areas of Britain, such as Lancashire and Yorkshire, that still continue to use it and sometimes also use putten as the past participle for put (which is not done in American English).

Other words and meanings, to various extents, were brought back to Britain, especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), quit ("to stop," which spawned quitter in the U.S.), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler), baggage, hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example monkey wrench
Monkey wrench

The monkey wrench or in the UK "Adjustable Spanner" is an adjustable wrench, which is rarely used today. Its use has generally been replaced by the Adjustable spanner, which has a compact head and so is more easily used in confined places....
and wastebasket, originated in 19th-century Britain.

The mandative subjunctive

Subjunctive mood

In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb grammatical mood that exists in many languages. It is typically used in dependent clauses to express wishes, commands, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or statements that are contrary to fact at present....
(as in "the City Attorney suggested that the case not be closed") is livelier in AmE than it is in British English; it appears in some areas as a spoken usage, and is considered obligatory in contexts that are more formal. The adjectives mad meaning "angry", smart meaning "intelligent", and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American than British English.

Regional differences

While written AmE is standardized across the country, there are several recognizable variations in the spoken language, both in pronunciation and in vernacular vocabulary. General American
General American

General American is an accent of American English. Within American English, General American and accents approximating it are contrasted with Southern American English, several U.S....
is the name given to any American accent that is relatively free of noticeable regional influences.

After the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
, the settlement of the western territories by migrants from the Eastern U.S. led to dialect mixing and leveling, so that regional dialects are most strongly differentiated along the Eastern seaboard

Eastern seaboard

An Eastern seaboard can mean any easternmost part of a continent, or its countries, states and/or cities.Eastern seaboard may also refer to:...
. The Connecticut River

Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through Western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut....
and Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean and various rivers in the United States that lies between the coast of Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south....
is usually regarded as the southern/western extent of New England speech, which has its roots in the speech of the Puritans from East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a region of eastern England. It was named after one of the ancient Heptarchy, the Kingdom of the East Angles, which was in turn named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln, in northern Germany....
who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, centered around the present-day cities of Salem, Massachusetts and Boston, Massachusetts....
. The Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a Drainage basin of about 14,700 square miles ....
generally divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect area; in between these two rivers several local variations exist, chief among them the one that prevails in and around New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
and northern New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
, which developed on a Dutch substratum

Substratum

In linguistics, a stratum or strate refers to a language that influences, or is influenced by another through language contact. A substratum is a language which is influenced by another, while a superstratum is the language that exerts the influence....
after the British conquered New Amsterdam. The main features of Coastal Southern speech can be traced to the speech of the English from the West Country

West Country

The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region....
who settled in Virginia after leaving England at the time of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Roundhead and Cavalier. The First English Civil War and Second English Civil War civil wars pitted the supporters of Charles I of England against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the Third English Civil War saw fighting between supporters...
, and to the African influences

African American Vernacular English

African American Vernacular English ?also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English ?is an African American Variety of American English....
from the African Americans who were enslaved in the South.

Although no longer region-specific, African American Vernacular English

African American Vernacular English

African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
s, has a close relationship to Southern varieties of AmE and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans.

A distinctive speech pattern also appears near the border between Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
and the United States, centered on the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The St. Lawrence River Great Lakes are a chain of fresh water lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada ? United States border. Consisting of Lakes Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth....
region. This is the Inland North Dialect

Inland Northern American English

The Inland North dialect of American English is spoken in a region that includes most of the cities along the Erie Canal and on the U.S. side of Great Lakes region , reaching approximately from Utica, New York to Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as a corridor extending down across central Illinois from Chicago to St....
—the "standard Midwestern" speech that was the basis for General American in the mid-20th Century (although it has been recently modified by the northern cities vowel shift

Northern cities vowel shift

The Northern cities vowel shift is a chain shift in the sounds of some vowels in the dialect region of American English known as the Inland Northern American English....
). Those not from this area frequently confuse it with the North Midland dialect treated below, referring to both collectively as "Midwestern" in the mid-Atlantic region or "Northern" in the Southern US. The so-called "Minnesota Nice" dialect is also prevalent in the upper Midwest, and is characterized by influences from the German and Scandinavian settlers of the region (yah for yes/ja in German, pronounced the same way).

In the interior, the situation is very different. West of the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
begins the broad zone of what is generally called "Midland

Midland American English

The Midland dialect of American English was first defined by Hans Kurath as being the dialect spoken in an area centered on Philadelphia and expanding westward to include most of Pennsylvania and part of the Appalachian Mountains....
" speech. This is divided into two discrete subdivisions, the North Midland that begins north of the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
valley area, and the South Midland speech; sometimes the former is designated simply "Midland" and the latter is reckoned as "Highland Southern." The North Midland speech continues to expand westward until it becomes the closely related Western dialect which contains Pacific Northwest English

Pacific Northwest English

Pacific Northwest English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest, defined as an area that includes part of the northwest coast of the United States and the west coast of Canada, is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of the dial...
as well as the well-known California English

California English

California English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the United States state of California. The most populous state of the United States, California is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of California English....
, although in the immediate San Francisco area some older speakers do not possess the cot-caught merger and thus retain the distinction between words such as cot and caught which reflects a historical Mid-Atlantic heritage.

The South Midland or Highland Southern dialect follows the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles long and is located in the eastern United States....
in a generally southwesterly direction, moves across Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River....
and Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a U.S. state and a sovereignty located in the South Central United States and Southern United States of the United States of America ....
west of the Mississippi

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
, and peters out in West Texas

West Texas

West Texas is a region in Texas that has more in common geographically with the Southwestern United States than it does with the rest of the state....
. It is a version of the Midland speech that has assimilated some coastal Southern forms (outsiders often mistakenly believe South Midland speech and coastal South speech to be the same).

The island state of Hawaii has a distinctive Hawaiian Pidgin

Hawaiian Pidgin

Hawaii Pidgin English, Hawaii Creole English, HCE, or simply Pidgin, is a creole language based in part on English language used by most "local" residents of Hawaii....
.

Finally, dialect development in the United States has been notably influenced by the distinctive speech of such important cultural centers as Boston

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the largest city and county seat of Charleston County....
, New Orleans, and Detroit, which imposed their marks on the surrounding areas.

Differences between British English and American English

American English and British English

British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
(BrE) differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language
Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary is the name given to a common type of English language dictionary in the United States. The name is derived from lexicographer Noah Webster and has become a genericized trademark for this type of dictionary....
, was written by Noah Webster

Noah Webster

File:Noah Webster engraving.jpgNoah Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, word enthusiast, and editor. He has been called the ?Father of American Scholarship and Education.? His ?Blue-Backed Speller? books were used to teach spelling and reading to five generations of American children....
in 1828; Webster intended to show that the United States, which was a relatively new country at the time, spoke a different dialect from that of Britain.

Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and normally do not affect mutual intelligibility; these include, but are not limited to: different use of some verbal auxiliaries; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns; different preferences for the past forms of a few verbs (e.g. AmE/BrE: learned/learnt, burned/burnt, and in sneak, dive, get); different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (e.g. AmE in school, BrE at school); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to the hospital, BrE to hospital). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable, since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other.

Differences in orthography

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
are also trivial. Some of the forms that now serve to distinguish American from British spelling (color for colour, center for centre, traveler for traveller, etc.) were introduced by Noah Webster himself; others are due to spelling tendencies in Britain from the 17th century until the present day (e.g. -ise for -ize, although the Oxford English Dictionary still prefers the -ize ending) and cases favored by the francophile

Francophile

A Francophile is a person who has a strong interest in, or admiration for Culture of France. This could include France itself and its History of France, the French language, French cuisine, French literature, etc....
tastes of 19th century Victorian England, which had little effect on AmE (e.g. programme for program, manoeuvre for maneuver, skilful for skillful, cheque for check, etc.).

The most noticeable differences between AmE and BrE are at the levels of pronunciation and vocabulary. AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically

Morphology (linguistics)

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of structure of words . While words are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, it is clear that in most languages, words can be related to other words by rules....
more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where the British form is a back-formation

Back-formation

In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1897....
, such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar). There are also difference in vocabulary developed in the 20th century (e.g. parking lot versus car park, mall versus shopping centre, downtown verses city centre).

Bibliography

General

Ferguson, Charles A.; & Heath, Shirley Brice (Eds.). (1981). Language in the USA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Finegan, Edward. (2004). American English and its distinctiveness. In E. Finegan & J. R. Rickford (Eds.), Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first century (pp. 18–38). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Finegan, Edward; & Rickford, John R. (Eds.). (2004). Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frazer, Timothy (Ed.). (1993). Heartland English. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Glowka, Wayne; & Lance, Donald (Eds.). (1993). Language variation in North American English. New York: Modern Language Association.
Garner, Bryan A.
Bryan A. Garner

Bryan A. Garner is a United States lawyer, a lexicographer, a teacher who has written several books about English usage and style, and the founder of LawProse, Inc....
(2003). Garner's Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kenyon, John S. (1950). American pronunciation (10th ed.). Ann Arbor: George Wahr.
Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Mesthrie, Rajend; & Upton, Clive (Eds.). (2004). A handbook of varieties of English: Morphology and syntax (Vol. 2). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lippi-Green, Rosina. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York: Routedge.
MacNeil, Robert; & Cran, William. (2005). Do you speak American?: A companion to the PBS television series. New York: Nan A. Talese, Doubleday.

(1921 edition online: ).

Schneider, Edgar (Ed.). (1996). Focus on the USA. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Schneider, Edgar W.; Kortmann, Bernd; Burridge, Kate; Mesthrie, Rajend; & Upton, Clive (Eds.). (2004). A handbook of varieties of English: Phonology (Vol. 1). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Thomas, Erik R. (2001). An acoustic analysis of vowel variation in New World English. Publication of American Dialect Society (No. 85). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Thompson, Charles K. (1958). An introduction to the phonetics of American English (2nd ed.). New York: The Ronald Press Co.
Trudgill, Peter and Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th ed. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9.
Wolfram, Walt; & Schilling-Estes, Natalie. (1998). American English: Dialects and variation. Malden, MA: Basil Blackwell.

History of American English

Algeo, John (Ed.). (2001). The Cambridge history of the English language: English in North America (Vol. 6). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bailey, Richard W. (1991). Images of English: A cultural history of the language. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bailey, Richard W. (2004). American English: Its origins and history. In E. Finegan & J. R. Rickford (Eds.), Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first century (pp. 3–17). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bryson, Bill. (1994). Made in America: An informal history of the English language in the United States. New York: William Morrow.
Finegan, Edward. (2006). English in North America. In R. Hogg & D. Denison (Eds.), A history of the English language (pp. 384–419). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kretzschmar, William A. (2002). American English: Melting pot or mixing bowl? In K. Lenz & R. Möhlig (Eds.), Of dyuersitie and change of language: Essays presented to Manfred Görlach on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday (pp. 224–239). Heidelberg: C. Winter.
Mathews, Mitford. (1931). The beginnings of American English. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Read, Allen Walker. (2002). Milestones in the history of English in America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Regional variation

Allen, Harold B. (1973-6). The linguistic atlas of the Upper Midwest (3 Vols). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Atwood, E. Bagby. (1953). A survey of verb forms in the eastern United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Carver, Craig M. (1987). American regional dialects: A word geography. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-10076-9
Kurath, Hans
Hans Kurath

Hans Kurath was an American linguistics of Austrian origin. He was full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor....
, et al. (1939-43). Linguistic atlas of New England (6 Vols). Providence: Brown University for the American Council of Learned Societies.
Kurath, Hans. (1949). A word geography of the eastern United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Kurath, Hans; & McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic states. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1979). Dialects in culture. W. Kretzschmar (Ed.). Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1980). Varieties of American English. A. Dil (Ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Metcalf, Allan. (2000). How we talk: American regional English today Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-04362-4
Pederson, Lee; McDaniel, Susan L.; & Adams, Carol M. (eds.). (1986-92). Linguistic atlas of the gulf states (7 Vols). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.

Social variation

African American

Bailey, Guy; Maynor, Natalie; & Cukor-Avila, Patricia (Eds.). (1991). The emergence of Black English: Text and commentary. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Green, Lisa. (2002). African American English: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Labov, William. (1972). Language in the inner city: Studies in Black English Vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lanehart, Sonja L. (Ed.). (2001). Sociocultural and historical contexts of African American English. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Mufwene, Salikoko; Rickford, John R.; Bailey, Guy; & Baugh, John (Eds.). (1998). African American Vernacular English. London: Routledge.
Rickford, John R. (1999). African American Vernacular English: Features, evolution, and educational implications. Oxford: Blackwell.
Wolfram, Walt. (1969). A sociolinguistic description of Detroit negro speech. Urban linguistic series (No. 5). Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Wolfram, Walt; & Thomas, Erik. (2002). The development of African American English: Evidence from an isolated community. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

American Indian

Leap, William L. (1993). American Indian English. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

Latino American

Bayley, Robert; & Santa Ana, Otto. (2004). Chicano English grammar. In B. Kortmann, E. W. Schneider, K. Burridge, R. Mesthrie, & C. Upton (Eds.), A handbook of varieties of English: Morphology and syntax (Vol. 2, pp. 167–183). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Fought, Carmen. (2003). Chicano English in context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Galindo, Letticia D. (1987). Linguistic influence and variation of the English of Chicano adolescents in Austin, Texas. (PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin).
Santa Ana, Otto. (1993). Chicano English and the Chicano language setting. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 15 (1), 1-35.
Santa Ana, Otto; & Bayley, Robert. (2004). Chicano English phonology. In E. W. Schneider, B. Kortmann, K. Burridge, R. Mesthrie, & C. Upton (Eds.), A handbook of varieties of English: Phonology (Vol. 1, pp. 407–424). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Wolfram, Walt. (1974). Sociolinguistic aspects of assimilation: Puerto Rican English in New York City. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Visual media

Cran, William (Producer, Director, Writer); Buchanan, Christopher (Producer); & MacNeil, Robert (Writer). (2005). Do you speak American? [Documentary]. New York: Center for New American Media.
Kolker, Andrew; & Alvarez, Louis (Producers, Directors). (1987). American tongues: A documentary about the way people talk in the U.S. [Documentary]. Hohokus, NJ: Center for New American Media.

External links

based on results from online quizzes
: PBS special
of the United States, by Bert Vaux et al., Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
. The answers to various questions about pronunciation, word use etc. can be seen in relationship to the regions where they are predominant.
at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States....