“Unsavory” or “Unsavoury”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 3 prefer “unsavory” and 3 prefer “unsavoury”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	unsavory	unsavoury	Preference
United States	96	4	“unsavory”
United Kingdom	26	74	“unsavoury”
India	33	67	“unsavoury”
Philippines	100	0	“unsavory”
Canada	67	33	“unsavory”
Australia	33	67	“unsavoury”
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.

“unsavory”

…galaxy whilst getting rid of unsavory elements, most notably the enigmatic…
Such tactics were considered unsavory even in early times, when,…
Given Dudley's unsavory reputation, few people believed his
…pipes, which it corroded, the "unsavory material" (gas) leaked and was…
…on Krishna," as de Camp's "unsavory Earthman hero ... goes through…
…weakening of a mark through unsavory or unflattering associations.
…Lansing guest stars as the unsavory but attractive "Peaches", who claims…
…Chinese company with "a very unsavory reputation."
…describing the film as offensive, unsavory and painful.
Gloria defends Dimitri's unsavory actions to Tad unwaveringly.

“unsavoury”

…superiors were concerned (especially the unsavoury Lord Frederick Beauclerk), he tells…
But among these unsavoury characters there are appealing people…
…"As countries grapple with their unsavoury pasts and consider the rightful…
…colonial precedent of sending such unsavoury characters back to their countries…
This removed the unsavoury criminal connotations with the name…
…very much based upon the unsavoury characteristics of "cowardice, poaching and
…holes along with a particularly unsavoury attitude to violence and a…
…excessive crowd numbers produced several unsavoury incidents which included fans taking…
…from The Den with an unsavoury past but who are now…
…kid looking up at an unsavoury character leaning against a lamp

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