34 ms·
Why isn't the British term spelled "graught"?
by sgustard 8y ago
Why isn't the British term spelled "graught"?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- petercooper 8y agoI enjoyed the tongue in cheek question, but words where "aught" sounds like "aft" are Germanic in origin (such as laughter or draught), whereas "graft" is French in origin :-) A lot of the more unusual spellings in British English (in particular) relate to trying to distinguish words by their origin.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoetymonline suggests that "graft" the horticultural term is French in its immediate origin (Greek in actual origin; the French word descends from a Greek word borrowed into Latin), but "graft" the term for a job is more likely... Dutch. It isn't related to the other graft.
- nkurz 8y agoThis article details both the different regional definitions of graft, as well as the reasons it's spelled as it is: https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2012/01/graft.html https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2012/01/graf... Spoilers: US usage is always negative, Australian usage mostly matches US, British is mostly positive, India is both. Someone asks the same spelling question, and gets the answer that it is because the word was only written down in either meaning quite late.