Why English can’t agree on jewellery vs jewelry (and how we got here)

At Parkin & Gerrish we write jewellery the British way. Cross the Atlantic and you’ll meet jewelry the American way. Both are correct, both are loved, and the story of how we ended up with two spellings is a very English tale of French borrowings, early printers, and a lexicographer with a reforming streak.

From Old French to English fingers

The English word jewel arrived via Anglo-Norman French after 1066.

• Medieval French used forms like jouel; modern French prefers joyau (for “jewel”) and bijoux (for “jewels”).

• English built a little family around jewel: jeweller/jeweler (the craftsperson) and jewellery/jewelry (the trade, the wares).

So the root is French; the divergence is English.

Before dictionaries: glorious chaos

Until the 1700s, spelling in English wasn’t fully standardised. Scribes, then printers, chose forms that felt right or fit the line. In early modern texts you’ll find jewelry, jewellery, and even quainter experiments living happily side by side. No one raised an eyebrow.

Two men, two dictionaries, two spellings

Dr Samuel Johnson (London, 1755)

Johnson’s hugely influential dictionary codified many British preferences. He favoured double-L patterns in derivatives: traveller, modeller, jeweller—and from jeweller it’s a short step to jewellery.

Noah Webster (Connecticut, 1828)

Webster preferred tidy, phonetic forms. He streamlined many endings: color, honor, center—and he trimmed doubles where possible: traveler, jeweler, and therefore jewelry. American printers, schools and publishers followed his lead.

From the 19th century onward, the two standards settled:

• British/Commonwealth English: jeweller → jewellery

• American English: jeweler → jewelry

Why the double l matters

Think of the word as a little equation:

• jewel (the noun)

• • -er (the person) → jeweller/jeweler

• • -y (the field/wares) → jewellery/jewelry

British English keeps ll in the middle (jewel l + -er = jeweller), and that double l carries through when you add -y → jewellery. American English simplifies earlier (jewel + -er = jeweler), so the -y ending lands on a single l → jewelry.

It’s the same family pattern you see with traveller/traveling vs traveler/traveling.

Did the “other” spelling ever appear in Britain or America?

Yes—especially before the 20th century. Early printers in London sometimes set jewelry; American publications occasionally printed jewellery. But by the late 1800s, education, style guides and national dictionaries had firmed up the divide.

Cousins you’ll meet along the way

• Jeweller / Jeweler – the person or the shop trade

• Jewelled / Jeweled – adorned with gemstones

• Bijouterie – a French loanword English still uses for small, intricate pieces or a refined boutique

• Bijoux / Joyaux – French plurals you’ll see in historic catalogues and continental labels

And if you spot jewelery, jewellry, or jewlery on antique cases or handwritten receipts: charming artefacts of a more relaxed age.

Language, sentiment, and shop signs

We love how store fronts tell the story. A Jewellery sign belongs to London’s Burlington Arcade; Jewelry gleams over a Fifth Avenue window. Both promise the same thing: metal worked into meaning, stones set into memory.

(And if you’re browsing our site from Boston or Brisbane: welcome—however you spell it.)

Quick guide (for the curious)

• UK & Commonwealth: jewellery, jeweller, jewellery shop

• USA: jewelry, jeweler, jewelry store

• French: bijoux / joaillerie (and bijouterie for a shop)

• Italian: gioielli / gioielleria

• Spanish: joyas / joyería

• German: Schmuck (jewellery), Juwelier (jeweller)

Different words, same delight.

Our house style at Parkin & Gerrish

We write jewellery, it’s our voice and our home. When we speak to friends across the Atlantic, we’re perfectly happy with jewelry too. The pieces themselves don’t mind; they were made to cross borders and generations.

If you’ve spotted a historic spelling on a hallmark, label, or old box, send us a photo. We adore those tiny time-capsules.

Still curious?

Around the world in beautiful words

Different languages divide their words like gemstones: some mean “fine jewellery”, some mean “adornment”, some mean “the shop”, and some are gloriously all-purpose. A few favourites:

Romance languages

• French: bijoux (jewels), joaillerie (fine jewellery), bijouterie (a jewellery shop)

• Italian: gioielli (jewels), gioielleria (shop), oreficeria (goldsmithing)

• Spanish: joyas (jewels), joyería (jewellery / shop), joyero (jeweller)

• Portuguese: jóias (jewels), joalheria (shop, BR), ourivesaria (shop, PT)

Germanic & Nordic

• German: Schmuck (jewellery), Juwelier (jeweller)

• Dutch: sieraden (jewellery), juwelier (jeweller)

• Swedish: smycken · Norwegian/Danish: smykker (jewellery), guldsmed/gullsmed (goldsmith)

Slavic & Baltic

• Polish: biżuteria (jewellery), jubiler (jeweller)

• Czech/Slovak: šperky (jewellery), shop = zlatnictví / zlatníctvo

• Russian: ювелирные изделия (jewellery), ювелир (jeweller)

• Ukrainian: ювелірні вироби

• Lithuanian: juvelyrika / papuošalai · Latvian: juvelierizstrādājumi / rotaslietas · Estonian: ehted

Greek & the eastern Mediterranean

• Greek: κοσμήματα (jewellery), shop = κοσμηματοπωλείο

• Turkish: mücevher (fine jewellery), takı (adornment), kuyumcu (jeweller)

Middle East & South Asia

• Arabic: مجوهرات (mujawharāt)

• Persian (Farsi): جواهرات (javāherāt) and زیورآلات (adornments)

• Hindi: आभूषण (ābhūṣaṇ) and गहने (gahanē)

• Urdu: زیورات (zewarāt)

• Bengali: গয়না (gôynā)

• Tamil: நகை · Telugu: ఆభరణాలు · Kannada: ಆಭರಣ · Malayalam: ആഭരണം

East & Southeast Asia

• Chinese: 珠宝/珠寶 (zhūbǎo, jewellery), 首饰/首飾 (shǒushì, ornaments)

• Japanese: ジュエリー (jewelry), 宝飾 (hōshoku), アクセサリー (accessories)

• Korean: 주얼리 (jewelry), 보석 (gem/jewel)

• Thai: เครื่องประดับ

• Vietnamese: trang sức

• Indonesian/Malay: perhiasan (jewellery), barang kemas (Malay)

• Filipino (Tagalog): alahas

Africa (a glimpse)

• Swahili: vito / vito vya thamani (jewellery / precious jewels)

• Afrikaans: juweliersware (jewellery), juwelier (jeweller)

Words shift slightly in meaning from place to place—some lean towards “fine”, others towards “adornment”. The poetry is in the nuance.

Spelling, sentiment and story

Victorian Britain wore its heart on its sleeve (and its brooch): snakes for eternal love, forget-me-nots for remembrance, seed pearls for tears. Across languages, the words for jewellery often carry the same tenderness. Bijoux sounds like a kiss; gioielli dances; κοσμήματα comes from kosmos.. order, adornment, the little universe you fasten around your wrist. Beautiful isn't it?