“Anesthesia” or “Anaesthesia”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 12 prefer “anesthesia” and 0 prefer “anaesthesia”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	anesthesia	anaesthesia	Preference
United States	98	2	“anesthesia”
United Kingdom	61	39	“anesthesia”
India	64	36	“anesthesia”
Philippines	95	5	“anesthesia”
Canada	92	8	“anesthesia”
Australia	53	47	“anesthesia”
Liberia	100	0	“anesthesia”
Ireland	58	42	“anesthesia”
New Zealand	51	49	“anesthesia”
Jamaica	72	28	“anesthesia”
Trinidad & Tobago	68	32	“anesthesia”
Guyana	100	0	“anesthesia”

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“anesthesia”

General anesthesia is commonly used in animals…
Selma Calmes, co-founder of the Anesthesia History Association, former vice-chair of…
…for respiratory management under general anesthesia.
For instance, general anesthesia increases abortion morbidity and mortality…
It requires general anesthesia, but allows thorough visualization of…
…were later released on the "Anesthesia" single on Tolkin's No.6 Records…
Uncle Anesthesia is the Screaming Trees' fifth…
…gear and Devin induces general anesthesia.
…worsened as a result of anesthesia or some other reaction to…
…of avoidable death due to anesthesia, and was an advocate for…

“anaesthesia”

General anaesthesia
…L3/4 vertebral interspace in spinal anaesthesia and lumbar puncture.
…at the conclusion of prolonged anaesthesia patients could suffer a sudden…
…to assess the depth of anaesthesia
Antiseptics, anaesthesia and painkillers are not required…
Anaesthesia and Pain Management
…section, in a time when anaesthesia wouldn't have been available.
In more involved procedures, general anaesthesia may be used, although the…
anaesthesia and anaesthetists.
…operations were done with no anaesthesia or analgesia, other than muscle…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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