What with Thanksgiving coming up, one’s fancy turns to flights home to celebrate with the family. Hence my interest in the aeroplane versus the airplane. Hmmm, maybe the right choice depends upon whether one is flying to England or within the US . . .
Actually, y’all’ll love this one. There’s no difference other than aeroplane is the British spelling for airplane. Or, to be fair, airplane is how the Americans decided to spell aeroplane.
Whichever you choose to use, be sure to be consistent in using it throughout your work.
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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| Aeroplane | Airplane |
|---|---|
 |
 — |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: aeroplanes |
Noun
Plural: airplanes |
[British] A powered flying vehicle with fixed wings and a weight greater than that of the air it displaces
|
[Mainly North American] A powered flying vehicle with fixed wings and a weight greater than that of the air it displaces |
| Examples: | |
| We’re taking the aeroplane home to Rye for the holidays.
The Bermuda Triangle has seen the disappearance of a number of aeroplanes and ships. Alfred Hitchcock remembers that Howard Hughes had quite a comfortable aeroplane. |
It’ll be faster to go by airplane.
As the wind goes over this house, it’s kind of like what happens on the wing of an airplane, isn’t it? So, right now they’re probably going to bring some kind of a vehicle to the airplane. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: proairplane | |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late 19th century, from the French aéroplane, from aéro- (air) + the Greek -planos (wandering). | 1870–75, for an earlier sense; an alteration of aeroplane, with air replacing aero-. |
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.
Resources for Aeroplane versus Airplane
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: airplane
Lexico.com: airplane
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Vintage Tiger Moth de Havilland is under the CC0 license, via Max Pixel.
