A bloc is a group of countries, parties or people acting together — the Eastern bloc, a voting bloc. A block is a solid piece, a city section, or the verb meaning to obstruct. Political groupings take the shorter spelling.
The core difference
A political alliance and everything else.
- bloc — an alliance: a trading bloc, a voting bloc.
- block — a solid piece; a city section; to obstruct: a block of flats, block the road.
Where bloc came from
French, and it entered English in the political sense in the early twentieth century. Because it is a narrow borrowing used almost only for alliances, block gets substituted by default — "a trading block" is the common slip.
The test
If it is a group acting together politically or economically, it is bloc. Everything else is block.
Frequently asked questions
Which spelling for a group of countries?
Bloc — as in trading bloc or the Eastern bloc.
Where does bloc come from?
French, entering English in the political sense in the early twentieth century.
What is a voting bloc?
A group of voters or representatives who vote together as a unit.