How To Spell The Color Gray

Both spellings are considered correct but the preferred spelling depends on whether you follow american english or british english standards.

How to spell the color gray. Gray and grey are both common spellings of the color between black and white. The varying usage of both grey and gray extends to specialized terms such as animal species gray grey whale and scientific terms gray grey matter. How to use grey in the united kingdom and where other variants of english are used grey is the preferred spelling of the color word and has always been. In the nineteenth century english dictionaries followed johnson s cue and prescribed gray as the correct version but to no avail. Therefore if you are writing for an american audience use gray when you mean the color.

All three of those spellings present as incorrect in my australian english spell check on internet explorer 10. The only exceptions to these rules are. Gray is used primarily in the united states and other areas that use us english. Grey is used in great britain and areas that use uk english. If you re in the united states spell the color gray with an a however if you re in the united kingdom canada or another country that speaks british english you should spell it with an e since that s more commonly accepted in those countries.

In the debate between grey and gray it s best to simply follow the crowd in this instance. Gray must be always be spelled gray. If you write and speak british english you ll spell the color as grey with an e. Proper nouns such as a last name earl grey and zane grey would not be spelled gray and l h. The spelling gray with an a is more common in american english.

In america they would write aluminum is gray in color. By the eighteenth century grey had become the more common spelling even though the legendary lexicographer samuel johnson thought that gray was a better version.