Labour and Labor Split the Same Way as Colour
Labour is work, especially hard physical work. The spelling difference follows the same rule as colour and honour.
Labor is work, especially hard physical work, and also the process of childbirth. The spelling follows the standard rule: *labor* in America, *labour* in Britain. But Australia keeps *labour* for the general word and spells its political party *Labor*, a deliberate Americanised spelling adopted around 1912 — so the country uses both forms on purpose. The British party is *Labour*, with the u.
- Hard work. *Manual labour.*
- Childbirth. *She went into labour.*
- The workforce. *The labour market.*
- Labour Party — British. *The Labour Party.*
- Australian Labor Party — spelled without the u. *The Australian Labor Party.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun (US) | labor | Hard labor. |
| Noun (UK) | labour | Hard labour. |
| Verb | labour | Labour over it. |
| Adjective | laborious | A laborious task. |
| Latin | labor | Toil. |
- The work required manual labour.Work.
- She was in labour for nine hours.Childbirth.
- The Australian party spells it Labor.Politics.
Labour phrases
- Labour of love — work done for pleasure, not payment
- Labour the point — explain something at tedious length
- Hard labour — a former criminal sentence of enforced work
- Labour market — the supply of and demand for workers
- Laborious — drops the u in both varieties
Latin *labor*, toil or exertion, through Old French. The childbirth sense is recorded from the 1500s.
Why is the Australian Labor Party spelled without a u?
The spelling was adopted around 1912, influenced by American usage and by a wish to look modern. Australia otherwise writes labour.
Why does laborious have no u?
Like honorary and humorous, it came directly from Latin rather than through French, which is where the u came from.