Word Confusion: Consul vs Council vs Counsel

Posted January 24, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
30 June 2023

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This word confusion consul vs council vs counsel is another trio of heterographic word confusions of which I must stay aware.

Essentially, a consul is a politician, which leads right into . . .

. . . government. Yep, when using council . . . it’s all about those politician-types. Thing of that double-c. Makes it hard.

The softer side of counsel can be a help, advisory if you will.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Consul	Council	Counsel
Lucius Munatius Plancus, Consul by bboellinger is in the public domain, via Pixabay.	United Nations Security Council by Cancillería Argentina and is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	QC in Court Robes by Leslie Ward is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Caricature of Sir Robert Alfred McCall, a King’s Counsel in Britain.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: consuls	Noun Plural: councils	Noun ¹; Verb ², intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: counsel Gerund: counseling, counselling Third person present verb: counsels Past tense or past participle: counseled, counsells [British] Present participle: counseling, counselling [British]
An official appointed by a government to live in a foreign city and protect and promote the government’s citizens and interests there [Ancient Rome] One of the two annually elected chief magistrates who jointly ruled the republic Any of the three chief magistrates of the first French republic (1799–1804)	A body of people who gather to give advice, suggestions, rule, or act for a larger group A body of people elected to manage the affairs of a city, county, or other municipal district An ecclesiastical assembly An assembly or meeting for consultation or advice	Noun: Advice, especially that given formally ¹ Consultation, especially to seek or give advice Lawyer or lawyers conducting a case Verb, intransitive: To give counsel or advice ² To get or take counsel or advice Verb, transitive: [Usually formal] Give advice to someone ² Give professional psychological help and advice to someone Recommend a course of action
Examples:
Pompeius Pedo was a consul in Rome in A.D. 1st century. In the past, the U.S. government relied on chief merchant-agents to act as a consul in their country to protect American property and estates and care for sailors and residents. The first American Consul for Australia was appointed in 1836. While any one country has only one U.S. embassy and ambassador, it may have several consulates with its own consul generals throughout that country.	The council will vote on the proposed regulation today. John Jones is on the council for the Fourth District. We held a family council on what to do about Mom’s driving. The intention of the Council of Nicea was to stop infighting in the Roman Catholic Church.	Noun: He’s the counsel for the prosecution. Them? They are the counsel for the defense. I think I’ll keep my own counsel on that. Dr. Jones gave counsel to the unhappy boy. Verb, intransitive: We seek counsel, my lord. I need to take counsel. Thank god Pam was paying attention to her friend’s counsel. Verb, transitive: She was being counseled for depression. Dr. Jones counseled the wayward lads. He was counseled by his supporters to return to Germany. George’s coach counseled caution.
Derivatives:
Adjective: consular, nonconsular, subconsular Noun: consulate, consulship, subconsul	Noun: councilman, councilor, councillorship, councilorship, councilwoman, subcouncil British spelling: councillor	Adjective: counselable, uncounseled British spellings: counsellable, uncounselled Noun: counselor, precounsel Verb: precounseled, precounseling, recounsel, recounseled, recounseling British spellings: precounselled, precounselling, recounselled, recounselling
History of the Word:
Late Middle English denoting an ancient Roman magistrate is from the Latin and is related to consulere meaning take counsel.	Old English in the sense of ecclesiastical assembly. It’s from the Anglo-Norman French cuncile from the Latin concilium meaning convocation or assembly from con- (together) + calare (summon).	Middle English via the Old French counseil ¹, conseiller ², from the Latin consilium meaning consultation or advice. It’s related to consulere.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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