Jewelry and jewellery refer to the same ornamental items, such as rings, necklaces and bracelets. Jewelry is the American spelling; jewellery, with its extra e, is the British spelling. Neither is a misspelling of the other — they simply belong to different regional standards.
The core difference
Jewelry and jewellery are identical in meaning, differing only in the American versus British spelling of the word.
- jewelry — American spelling: He designs handmade jewelry sold online.
- jewellery — British spelling: She kept her jewellery in a small locked box.
How to tell them apart
Both words trace back to jewel plus the ending -ery, which itself descends through Old French from Middle English juelrye. British English kept the fuller jewellery, while American English shortened it to jewelry, dropping a syllable in the process.
The confusion tends to appear when shoppers search online and a US site returns nothing for a UK spelling, or the reverse. A handy memory trick: British spelling keeps the extra l and e, much like British travelled keeps its double l where American traveled drops one — think longer word, British side.
