Honor and Honour Split in 1828

Honor is high respect, or the privilege of doing something. The spelling split is Noah Webster's work: his 1828 dictionary dropped the u from *honour*, *colour*, *labour* and their family, restoring the Latin forms and dropping the French detour. American English followed; British English did not. Britain keeps the u in *honour* but drops it in *honorary* and *honorific*, because those came directly from Latin rather than through French.

• High respect. *A man of honour.*
• A privilege. *The honour of speaking.*
• Honour — the British spelling. *Honour.*
• Honorary — no u, in both. *An honorary degree.*
• Honourable — the British form. *The Honourable Member.*

Word forms

• It is an honour to be here.British.
• He received the Medal of Honor.American.
• Honorary drops the u everywhere.Exception.

Where British English drops the u too

• Honorary, honorific — from Latin directly
• Humorous — though humour keeps the u
• Glamorous — though glamour keeps it
• Laborious — though labour keeps it
• The pattern — Latin-derived suffixes drop the u

Latin *honor*, through Old French *honour*. American English restored the Latin spelling after Webster's 1828 dictionary.