Many American phrases (and their meanings) are now increasingly used in the UK, thanks to the ubiquity of US-made movies and television programes.
| Word |
most common British meaning |
most common American meaning |
| alternately | every other one | as an alternative |
| ass |
donkey |
buttocks (British bum or arse)
also donkey |
| Asian |
coming from India, Pakistan etc.; South Asian |
East Asian, continental Southeast Asian
see also "oriental" |
| band |
a strap |
a jewelry ring for the finger (wedding band)
(+ British meaning, less commonly) |
| billion |
thousand million;
million million (earlier meaning; now less common) |
thousand million |
| bird |
usually an avian but can also be a slang term for a female |
almost always an avian |
| biscuit |
cracker (or cookie) |
similar to a scone or Welsh cake, except without any fruits or nuts, served with savory foods |
| blinkers |
leather flaps on a bridle used to restrict a horse's lateral vision (US: blinders) |
lights on a car that indicate the direction about to be taken (UK: indicators)
(+ UK meaning) |
| boob tube |
tube top |
slang term for television |
| bonnet |
hinged cover over the engine in a car (US: hood)
(+ US meaning) |
a type of hat tied under the chin worn by women, or a type of man's hat, both worn in previous centuries |
| braces |
over-the-shoulder straps to support trousers (US suspenders)
(+ US meaning) |
devices for straightening teeth |
| bugger |
someone who engages in buggery, or in non-polite company as a form of address (e.g. ..he's a generous bugger anyway) |
Term of endearment, often used for children. Appears to have no vulgar or insulting connotation. |
| bum |
buttocks (US ass or butt) |
hobo, homeless person.
(British sense sometimes used, as a Britishism) |
| brew (noun) |
a cup of tea |
a beer, or coffee drink |
| café |
diner |
coffee shop |
| chemist |
pharmacist, pharmacy
also a practitioner of chemistry |
a person whose profession is chemistry |
| chips |
french fries |
crisps |
| chippy |
carpenter
fish and chip shop |
loose woman (rare) |
| chum |
buddy (usually ironic) |
a friend
waste products from fish processing (heads, tails, blood etc.) often used for shark fishing.d |
| cot |
baby's cradle |
camp bed |
| dead beat, deadbeat |
exhausted |
a welsher, someone who does not pay their debts, often in construction "deadbeat dad" |
| drop (of liquid) |
several (fluid) ounces (of tea, for example)
(+ US meaning) |
a droplet (less than a milliliter) |
| dummy |
rubber teat for babies, i.e. US pacifier. (+ US meanings) |
mannequin, esp. for automobile crash tests
fake
fool |
| entrée |
starter (first course) of a meal |
main course of a meal |
| fag |
cigarette, a young public schoolboy who acts as a servant for older pupils. (+ US sense as an Americanism) |
short for faggot, an insulting term for a male homosexual |
| fanny |
vagina (obscene slang) |
buttocks (not obscene) |
| first floor (of a building) |
the floor above ground level |
the floor at ground level |
| fly-over |
Elevated road section, i.e. long road bridge. |
Ceremonial aircraft flight (British fly-past).
Higher-level road bridge that goes above both a lower bridge and a road below the lower bridge. |
| football |
association football, soccer |
American football |
| garage |
fuel filling station, e.g. "a Texaco garage" (+ US meanings) |
parking building; vehicle workshop |
| gas |
Natural gas |
Gasoline |
| geezer |
gangster, man |
old person (derogatory; British old geezer) |
| ground floor (of a building) |
The floor at ground level. |
Sometimes used thus, but American English prefers 'first floor'.
Lower of two floors that are each at a different ground level due to sloping terrain. |
| government |
The executive (though this will include some of the legislature). Can take the indefinite article. See Parliamentary system |
The combination of the executive, the entire legislature, and the judiciary. Always takes the definite article. See Presidential system. |
| hockey |
field hockey (played with a ball on turf), hockey played on a hard surface (e.g. concrete) or indoors |
hockey played on ice with a puck (British: ice hockey)
|
| hood |
a covering for the head, often attached to overcoats, to protect the wearer from wind and rain
| hinged cover over the engine in a car (UK: bonnet)
a contraction of neighborhood
(+ UK meaning)
|
| homely |
(Of a house) Comfortable, cozy, rustic.
(Of a person) Home-loving, domesticated, house-proud. |
(Only used of a person) Plain, Ugly. |
| hunting |
pursuing animals on horseback |
pursuing animals on foot (Btitish shooting or stalking) |
| indicator |
turn signal in a car (+ US meaning) |
a gauge or measure |
| jam |
a preserve made from fruits boiled in sugar and set with pectin (US: jelly)
(+ US meaning) |
a blockage or obstruction, also a traffic jam |
| jelly |
a fruit flavoured dessert set with gelatine (US: Jell-O) |
a preserve made from fruits boiled in sugar and set with pectin (UK: jam) |
| jock |
Slang term for a Scotsman or a Scots dog. |
Slang term for an athlete |
| joint |
A piece of meat for roasting, typically on the bone
A cigarette made with cannabis
A connection or union |
A cigarette made with cannabis
A connection or union
An establisment, especially a disruptable one (a gin joint; let's case the joint)
Prison (in the joint) |
| jumper |
sweater |
pinafore dress |
| knock up |
manufacture hastily
practise before tennis
wake up by knocking
make pregnant |
make pregnant |
| lantern |
free-standing device that emits a continuous light (compare British torch) |
device that burns liquid to produce light |
| let |
allow
rent (an apartment) |
allow, give permission
rent (rarely) |
| line |
a line |
a queue |
| lounge (noun) |
living room; part of a pub ("lounge bar") |
a bar |
| lush (slang; of a person) |
adjective: attractive (usually used by women in reference to men) (+ US meaning) |
noun: an alcoholic |
| mate |
friend |
spouse |
| mean |
stingy, miserly, selfish |
angry, cruel, vicious |
| momentarily |
for a moment |
in a moment; very soon |
| muffler |
scarf |
silencer on automobile/car/gramophone |
| on the telephone (on the phone) |
to be talking on the telephone or (rare) to possess a working telephone |
to be talking on the telephone |
| oriental |
East Asian, continental Southeast Asian |
East Asian. increasingly considered slightly condescending or politically incorrect. |
| outside lane |
the lane closest to the median or central reservation. |
the lane furthest from the median or central reservation. In both cases this will be the rightmost lane. |
| pants |
underpants (usu y-fronts)
(slang) bad or undesired |
trousers |
| paraffin |
kerosene |
a waxy fraction of petroleum commonly used to make candles (British "paraffin wax") |
| pavement |
sidewalk |
asphalt; the road surface |
| pecker |
chin (esp. in the phrase keep your pecker up) |
penis (slang) |
| period |
section of time
menstruation |
punctuation mark (British full stop), (Internet:dot)
section of time
menstruation |
| pint, quart, gallon |
Approx. 1.2 times US measure (mnemonic: "a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter") |
Approx. 5/6 British (imperial) measure (mnemonic: "a pint's a pound the world around", which it plainly isn't) |
| pissed (of a person) |
drunk |
angry (short for pissed off, which is used in both countries) |
| pound sign |
symbol of the pound sterling (£) |
hash sign (#), symbol of a weight of one pound |
| public school |
fee-paying private school |
state-supported school |
| pud |
short for pudding, as in "Christmas Pud" (rhymes with good) |
penis (rhymes with mud) (rare slang, usually used with "pulling") |
| purse |
money container |
handbag |
| quite good |
mediocre, acceptable, good, well done (ironic, according to subtle voice intonation) |
excellent |
| (to) ring |
to call (someone) by telephone |
to make a bell-like sound; you cannot ring people unless they are wearing a bell. (Note: "To give someone a ring" is to call someone in British English, while in American English it's to give an ornamental band to someone). Also understood as "to call on the telephone" when said as "here's my number, give me a ring when you can" or similarly. |
| a rubber |
a pencil eraser
can also mean condom |
a condom |
| rubbish |
garbage; trash |
understood by Americans as a Britishism unless referring to arguments, where bad arguments are called rubbish |
| shag |
to copulate, or copulate with (+ US meanings) |
a type of carpet
a kind of a dance
to copulate (understood as Britishism; popularized by Austin Powers movies) |
| shattered |
exhausted
broken |
broken |
| sherbet |
a fizzy powdered confectionery |
a type of frozen dessert (also spelled sherbert) |
| shop |
store (retail) |
workshop
also store |
| silencer |
silences car/automobile (muffler)
silences a gun (rare) |
silences a firearm |
| skillet |
(regional dialect) a frying pan
a type of stir-fried food item |
a frying pan, often cast iron
a long-handled stewing pan or saucepan, often having short legs or feet |
| (to) slate |
to disparage |
to schedule, such as "slated for demolition" |
| solicitor |
lawyer |
door-to-door salesman
(rarely) in the context of Solicitor General, the person who represents the United States before the Supreme Court |
| spunk |
semen (though also sometimes used for courage, sauciness) |
courage, sauciness (though also sometimes used for semen) |
| squash (noun) |
fruit cordial drink (squash (drink))
a sport (squash (sport))
(rarely) the vegetable |
vegetable (squash (vegetable))
(rarely) the sport |
| subway |
pedestrian underpass |
underground rail system |
| suspenders |
elasticated support for stockings |
elasticated support for trousers (British braces) |
(to) table
(e.g. parliamentary procedure) |
to raise for consideration (i.e. to bring to or put on the table) |
to suspend from consideration (to shelve) (i.e. to leave on the table) |
| tailgater |
a motorist who follows another vehicle too closely |
someone who picnics from the rear of a vehicle (+ British meaning) |
| tap |
faucet (+ US meanings) |
device for dispensing beer from a keg
(equal use as faucet)
Also used in "a phone tap" |
| tea |
A beverage, usually taken hot with milk
variously an afternoon snack or an evening meal |
a beverage, hot or in some regions taken cold with lemon and/or sugar |
| theatre |
playhouse
Star Wars opened in theaters in 1977 would be understood as an Americanism |
(spelled theater) cinema
(+ British meaning, spelled theater or theatre) |
| tights |
nylons, usually sheer, which also cover the groin (American pantyhose) |
skin-tight, often opaque, pants or pants and top, such as worn by gymnasts |
| torch |
hand-held device that emits light (i.e US flashlight, as well as US torch) |
burning stick, such as a tiki torch |
| tosser |
someone who masturbates, a derogatory term similar to wanker |
someone who throws objects (rare) |
| tramp |
a homeless person |
a loose woman
sometimes a homeless person, as in the movie Lady and the Tramp |
| trapezium |
a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides |
a quadrilateral with no parallel sides |
| trapezoid |
a quadrilateral with no parallel sides |
a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides |
| tyke |
an insulting term for someone from Yorkshire. |
term of endearment for a child, like "little rascal" |
| valve |
(vacuum) tube, as in pre-1960s electronics (+ US meanings) |
device to start, stop or regulate flow |
| vest |
sleeveless garment worn under a shirt (US undershirt) |
sleeveless garment worn over a shirt (British waistcoat) (e.g. kevlar vest) |
| wash up |
wash the dishes (more generally, to clean after eating food) |
wash your hands (more generally, to clean before eating food) |
| way out |
exit (on a sign) |
extreme (as in "way out there") |
