“Jails” or “Gaols”

Language

Jails and gaols are both English terms.

Usage

Jails is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English (en-US) while gaols is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

In terms of actual appearance and usage, here's a breakdown by country, with usage level out of 100 (if available) 👇:

Term	US	UK	India	Philippines	Canada	Australia	Liberia	Ireland	New Zealand	Jamaica	Trinidad & Tobago	Guyana
jails	98	81	91	85	94	84	0	82	100	0	100	0
gaols	2	19	9	15	6	16	0	18	0	0	0	0

• In the United States, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (98 to 2).
• In the United Kingdom, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (81 to 19).
• In India, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (91 to 9).
• In the Philippines, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (85 to 15).
• In Canada, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (94 to 6).
• In Australia, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (84 to 16).
• In Liberia, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "jails" and "gaols".
• In Ireland, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (82 to 18).
• In New Zealand, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (100 to 0).
• In Jamaica, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "jails" and "gaols".
• In Trinidad & Tobago, there is a preference for "jails" over "gaols" (100 to 0).
• In Guyana, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "jails" and "gaols".

Examples

Below, we provide some examples of when to use jails or gaols with sample sentences.

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