Both words describe medicine for infants, children, and adolescents, and mean exactly the same thing. Pediatric is the American spelling; paediatric is the standard British one, keeping the Greek ae from paed-, meaning child. In UK writing, always use paediatric.
The core difference
Pediatric and paediatric are the same medical term, differing only by American versus British spelling.
- pediatric — the American spelling: The hospital opened a new pediatric wing last year.
- paediatric — the standard British spelling of the same word: She was referred to the paediatric wing last year.
How to tell them apart
Both spellings trace back to the same Greek root, pais/paid-, meaning child, joined with -iatric for medical treatment. British English keeps the extra a in the digraph ae, matching other British medical spellings such as anaemia and orthopaedic, while American English simplifies it to a single e.
This one trips writers up most in NHS content, hospital signage, and medical CVs, where an American spelling can slip in from US textbooks or software that defaults to American English.
