Jewelry or Jewellery: Which One Is Correct?

In the US, it's jewelry. One L, no E in the middle.

If you've landed here it's probably because you've seen jewellery somewhere and wondered whether it's a typo. It isn't. It's the British spelling, it's completely standard across most of the English-speaking world, and it has as long a history as the American one.

Here's where each spelling is used, why there are two, and the third version that genuinely is wrong.

Jump to:

• The Short Answer
• Why There Are Two Spellings
• "Jewelery" Is the One That's Wrong
• Which Spelling Each Country Uses
• How Do You Pronounce Jewellery?
• Jeweler or Jeweller?
• Other American and British Jewelry Spellings
• Jewelry Words People Misspell
• Does It Matter When You're Shopping Online?
• FAQs

The Short Answer

American English: jewelry. Used in the United States, and commonly in Canada.

British English: jewellery. Used in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

They mean exactly the same thing. Neither is a corruption of the other, and seeing jewellery on a website isn't a mistake, it's a signal that whoever wrote it is British, Australian, or writing for that market.

If you're in the US and writing for an American audience, use jewelry. That's the whole rule.

Why There Are Two Spellings

This is more interesting than it sounds, because the usual explanation is wrong.

People assume one country took the other's word and changed it. That isn't what happened. The two spellings are built from different parent words.

The American spelling comes from "jewel". Jewel plus the ending -ry gives you jewelry, the same way rival gives rivalry.

The British spelling comes from "jeweller". A person who makes or sells jewels is a jeweller, with two Ls, and their trade is jewellery. That double L is a standard British habit: when a word ends in a single L, British English doubles it before adding a suffix. It's the same instinct that gives them travelled and traveller, where an American writes traveled and traveler.

And neither one is older. The word arrives in English in the late 1300s as juelrye, borrowed from Old French, and both the longer and shorter forms have been in circulation ever since. If anything the earliest recorded English spelling is closer to the American one, which is the opposite of what most people assume.

What happened later is standardization rather than invention. Noah Webster's dictionaries in the early 1800s pushed American English toward the shorter of competing spellings across hundreds of words, which is why colour became color and centre became center. Britain never adopted those reforms. The split you're looking at is the result.

"Jewelery" Is the One That's Wrong

This is the spelling worth actually worrying about, because unlike the other two it isn't standard anywhere.

Jewelery, with two Es and one L, is a genuine misspelling in both American and British English. It's extremely common, because it's roughly how the word sounds when it's said quickly, and because it looks like a reasonable halfway house between the two correct versions.

It isn't one. There are only two accepted spellings:

• jewelry (American)
• jewellery (British)

A quick way to keep them straight: the American spelling matches jeweler, one L in both. The British spelling matches jeweller, two Ls in both. If you can spell the person, you can spell the trade.

Two other spellings you'll occasionally see, jewellry and jewelrey, are also mistakes. If it doesn't look like either of the two versions above, it's wrong.

Which Spelling Each Country Uses

Canada is the genuinely mixed one. Canadian English generally follows British spelling for words like colour and centre, but sits much closer to the US on this one thanks to sheer proximity and shared retail. Both spellings appear in Canadian publications, and neither will look wrong to a Canadian reader.

Everywhere else the rule is simple: if the country writes colour rather than color, it writes jewellery.

How Do You Pronounce Jewellery?

Worth knowing, because the extra syllable in the British spelling is the thing that trips up the spelling in both countries.

The American pronunciation is three syllables: JOO-uhl-ree. That maps onto jewelry cleanly enough.

The standard British pronunciation is also three: JOO-uhl-ree, with the middle syllable representing the elle in the written word. But in practice most British speakers say two, JOOL-ree, and nobody blinks at it.

That gap, between a word people write with three syllables and say with two, is exactly what produces jewelery. If you're trying to remember the spelling, say the full three in your head.

Jeweler or Jeweller?

Same rule, same split.

• Jeweler is American. One L, matching jewelry.
• Jeweller is British. Two Ls, matching jewellery.

The two always travel together, so a piece of writing that says jeweler and jewellery is mixing conventions. Pick one country's spelling and stay with it throughout.

The plural works normally in both: jewelers and jewellers.

Other American and British Jewelry Spellings

If you read jewelry writing from both sides of the Atlantic, a few more words follow the same pattern.

The karat one is worth a closer look, because it isn't just a spelling difference. In America the two words do different jobs: karat with a K is gold purity, and carat with a C is gemstone weight. In Britain, carat with a C does both, and you tell them apart by context.

So an American writes about a 0.5 carat diamond in an 18 karat gold ring, using two different words. A British writer uses carat twice in that sentence and is equally correct. Our guide to symbols stamped on jewelry has the full key to what every purity mark means on a piece, and covers how US marking differs from British hallmarking.

Jewelry Words People Misspell

A handful of trade terms turn up misspelled constantly, usually because they came into English from French and kept their original shapes.

Vermeil. Pronounced ver-MAY, and it means a thick layer of gold over a solid sterling silver base. Not vermiel or vermail. Our guide to 18K gold vs gold vermeil covers what it actually is.

Milgrain. The tiny beaded metal detail along the edge of a setting. Also written millegrain, and both are accepted.

Assay. The testing process that establishes the purity of a precious metal. One word, two Ss. You'll meet it most often in a British context, since the UK has assay offices and the US doesn't.

Cabochon. A stone polished into a smooth dome rather than cut with facets. Pronounced CAB-uh-shon.

Filigree. Fine twisted metal wire worked into a decorative pattern. One L, two Es at the end.

Facet. The flat polished surface on a cut stone. One T, and faceted rather than facetted.

Does It Matter When You're Shopping Online?

More than you'd think, and in a way that's genuinely useful.

Search engines understand both spellings, so you'll get results either way. What changes is which results come first. Searching mens jewelry surfaces American retailers, while mens jewellery leans toward British and Australian ones.

That matters at checkout rather than at the search box. A site spelling it jewellery throughout is usually selling from the UK or Australia, which can mean prices in another currency, longer shipping, import duties on the way in, and a returns address on another continent. None of that is a reason not to buy. It's just worth knowing before you do.

And it's a signal about the content itself. On a subject where the details differ by country, like purity marks and metal standards, the spelling tells you whose system a page is describing. A British page explaining hallmarks is describing a system the US doesn't have.

We're a British brand, so at home we spell it jewellery. This store is written for you, so here it's jewelry, and the guides describe American marking rather than British hallmarking. Same pieces, same standards, different dictionary.

FAQs

Is it jewelry or jewellery?

Both are correct, in different places. Jewelry is the American spelling, used in the United States and commonly in Canada. Jewellery is the British spelling, used in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

How do you spell jewelry in the US?

Jewelry, with one L and no E in the middle. It matches jeweler, which also has one L, so if you can spell the person you can spell the trade.

Is “jewelery” a word?

No. Jewelery, with two Es and one L, is a misspelling in both American and British English. It's common because it's close to how the word sounds, but the only accepted spellings are jewelry and jewellery.

Why do the British spell it jewellery?

Because their version is built from jeweller, which has two Ls, and British English doubles a final L before adding a suffix. It's the same habit that gives them travelled and traveller. The American form is built from jewel instead, giving jewel plus -ry.

Which spelling came first?

Neither, really. The word enters English in the late 1300s as juelrye, from Old French, and both the longer and shorter forms have been in use for centuries. The earliest recorded English form is actually closer to the American one. The two countries simply standardized on different spellings.

How do you pronounce jewellery?

The British spelling has three syllables, JOO-uhl-ree, though most British speakers say two in everyday speech, JOOL-ree. The American pronunciation is JOO-uhl-ree, which matches the American spelling more closely.

Is it jeweler or jeweller?

Jeweler is American and jeweller is British, matching jewelry and jewellery respectively. The two always go together, so avoid mixing one country's spelling of one with the other country's spelling of the other.

Is it carat or karat?

In America, karat means gold purity and carat means gemstone weight. In Britain, carat with a C does both jobs and you tell them apart by context. So an American writes 18 karat gold and a 0.5 carat diamond; a British writer would use carat for both.

Does it matter which spelling I search for?

Search engines understand both, but the results differ. Searching jewelry brings up American retailers first, while jewellery leans British and Australian. If you're buying, the spelling you use quietly decides whose shipping costs, return windows and import duties you're looking at.

Where does the word come from?

It arrived in English through Old French and appears in the late 1300s as juelrye. The modern forms are built from different parents: jewelry from jewel plus -ry, and jewellery from jeweller plus -y.

Where to Go From Here

If you're writing for an American audience, it's jewelry. If you're writing for a British one, it's jewellery. If it has two Es and one L, it's neither.

And if you're reading a jewelry site rather than writing one, the spelling quietly tells you which market you're in, which tells you a lot about pricing, delivery and whose standards the page is describing.

While you're here, the difference between sterling silver and silver covers the 925 mark, rose gold vs white gold covers the gold colors, and types of men's chains is the place to start if you're looking rather than writing.