“Sulfurous” or “Sulphurous”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 4 prefer “sulfurous” and 2 prefer “sulphurous”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	sulfurous	sulphurous	Preference
United States	89	11	“sulfurous”
United Kingdom	32	68	“sulphurous”
India	26	74	“sulphurous”
Philippines	100	0	“sulfurous”
Canada	58	42	“sulfurous”
Australia	54	46	“sulfurous”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	0	0	Not enough data
New Zealand	0	0	Not enough data
Jamaica	0	0	Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago	0	0	Not enough data
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

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

“sulfurous”

…temperatures, and low reactivity with sulfurous compounds and other exhaust products…
Sulfurous acid
…Sulphur besides the park are sulfurous water springs in town that…
…business, Gérard Lebovici acquired a sulfurous reputation through his political associations.
…its ground color is pale sulfurous, not white, and the border…
…research because of a faint sulfurous odor and safety concerns with
…is the beryllium salt of sulfurous acid.
…cold by combined use of sulfurous and carbonic acid.
…alleviate the odor pollution from sulfurous exhaust fumes.
…ultraviolet light, ozone, acid from sulfurous and nitrous pollutants in the…

“sulphurous”

…Levels struck a stream of sulphurous water, which to this day…
…flat in a cloud of sulphurous smoke.
…Romans who took advantage of sulphurous waters sprouting in the region.
…in the temple are strongly sulphurous, and their temperature varies from
However, in 1900 and 1901, sulphurous fumes were observed issuing from…
Pollutants such as sulphurous oxides (SOx), nitrous oxides (NOx),…
…spring was discovered to contain sulphurous properties and minerals, similar to…
…that his "memory exudes a sulphurous stench".
…spa offering physician-prescribed treatment in sulphurous waters, is managed by .
The Sulphurous water source of Puzzichello (site…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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