Commonwealth English

Commonwealth English

The term Commonwealth English is used as a collective term for those variants of the English language used in the British Commonwealth, such as British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English.

Some of these forms of English have their own separate, recognised dictionaries. Australian English has had the Macquarie Dictionary since 1981 and in 1998 Oxford University Press published dictionaries for both Canadian English and New Zealand English after extended research in these English speaking countries.

Sometimes a Commonwealth English dialect deviates from British English, such as Canadian English spells program (as opposed to programme) and airplane (as opposed to aeroplane), while maintaining some British aspects otherwise.