Do you have a great sense of ‘humor’ or ‘humour’? What’s the difference between these two words? And how do you know which one to use? Don’t worry. We’ll cover that in this article, plus teach you how to use the correct spelling of the word in a sentence.
Don’t feel like skimming? Here’s the short answer:
The words mean the same exact thing.
As you just learned, the difference between these two words is that ‘humor’ is the American English spelling of the word, and ‘humour’ is the British English spelling of the word.
It’s pretty common for English words that end in ‘or’ to be spelled ‘our’ in British English.
Let’s take a look at some examples.
In the English language, there are quite a few words that have both an American English spelling and a British English spelling, like the word ‘humor.’ Let’s see some examples.
The Merriam-Webster definition of the word is: “that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous: a funny or amusing quality,” “the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous: the ability to be funny or to be amused by things that are funny,” “something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing,” “an often temporary state of mind imposed especially by circumstance,” “characteristic or habitual disposition or bent: temperament,” “in medieval physiology: a fluid or juice of an animal or plant,” “specifically: one of the four fluids entering into the constitution of the body and determining by their relative proportions a person’s health and temperament,” “a sudden, unpredictable, or unreasonable inclination: whim,” “a normal functioning bodily semifluid or fluid (such as the blood or lymph),” and “physiology: a secretion (such as a hormone) that is an excitant of activity.”
As a transitive verb, it means: “to soothe or content (someone) by indulgence: to comply with the temperament or inclinations of,” and “to adapt oneself to.”
A few synonyms of the word include:
Noun
Verb
Now that you know what the words mean let’s see some examples of how to use them correctly in a sentence.
Now that you know that both spellings of the word are correct and that ‘humor’ is the American English spelling of the word and ‘humour’ is the British English spelling of the word, you can use the above examples to write your own sentences.
If you ever get stuck, we’ll be right where you left us. Come back and refresh your memory anytime.
We’ve also got an entire library of content that helps clear up common confusing words you might encounter while learning the language.
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