aeroplane

Why do the British call it an aeroplane, while Americans use the slightly different airplane?

Aeroplane comes from Greek aéro- "air" + -planos "wandering" and was first used in reference to air travel in 1873.

The American spelling and pronunciation airplane did not gain popularity in the States until 1907, at which point it replaced the original aeroplane. Such divergence is natural and to be expected when two dialects are largely isolated from one another geographically.

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