“Pedophile” or “Paedophile”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 9 prefer “pedophile” and 2 prefer “paedophile”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	pedophile	paedophile	Preference
United States	99	1	“pedophile”
United Kingdom	48	52	“paedophile”
India	83	17	“pedophile”
Philippines	98	2	“pedophile”
Canada	96	4	“pedophile”
Australia	70	30	“pedophile”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	49	51	“paedophile”
New Zealand	70	30	“pedophile”
Jamaica	86	14	“pedophile”
Trinidad & Tobago	82	18	“pedophile”
Guyana	100	0	“pedophile”

Usage

Examples in context

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

“pedophile”

…Stick says he is a pedophile.
…minister (Elio Di Rupo) a pedophile.
…currently being served by serial pedophile Geoffrey Robert Dobbs (Queensland), who…
…denial of Roman being "a pedophile" or "sexual deviant".
…were keynote speakers at a pedophile advocacy conference occurring in the
…likened the program to a "pedophile grooming a victim", and said…
…associated with Xuxa as a pedophile, the film gained a fame…
…might have changed into a pedophile), that they might be a…
…then murdered by a serial pedophile.
List of pedophile and pederast advocacy organizations

“paedophile”

…allegation that Putin was a paedophile.
…Parliament that Holloway was a paedophile.
…reviving claims of an establishment paedophile ring.
…Watkins as a "committed, organised paedophile" and "potentially the most dangerous…
…gloves, and explained how a paedophile could use them to touch…
…like a pervert, stalker or paedophile, causing him to shout out…
…he is now technically a paedophile, tells Poppy that she is…
Tracy Lyons (born 1970), English paedophile convicted in the 2009 Plymouth…
…hint to Kenny being a paedophile; there were discussions over how…
Tracy Dawber (born 1966), English paedophile convicted in the 2009 Plymouth…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

Too much to remember?

Looking for a tool that handles this for you wherever you write?

Install Sapling Try the grammar checker