“Watercolors” or “Watercolours”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

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

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	watercolors	watercolours	Preference
United States	98	2	“watercolors”
United Kingdom	19	81	“watercolours”
India	62	38	“watercolors”
Philippines	92	8	“watercolors”
Canada	56	44	“watercolors”
Australia	24	76	“watercolours”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	21	79	“watercolours”
New Zealand	28	72	“watercolours”
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.

“watercolors”

Gorgeous landscape and maritime watercolors were done by Paul Signac,…
…drawings, collages, etchings, crayon, silkscreen, watercolors and BookArt—i.e.
…as well as drawings and watercolors by Richard Morris Hunt from…
…was a child, painting with watercolors since he did not have…
…early holdings include paintings, drawings, watercolors, and notebooks of Cos Cob…
Even his early watercolors show the great importance of…
…a child she painted with watercolors and acrylics.
His "mute" watercolors or single image sketches, where…
…landscapes, architectural views, and his watercolors of art galleries.
This example popularized watercolors as a form of personal…

“watercolours”

…making many drawings, photocopies and watercolours before making the high-intensity oil
The Great Age of British Watercolours (1750–1880).
…comprising 98 prints, drawings and watercolours from throughout her career from…
She produced watercolours, oils, and black and white
…he signed some of his watercolours ' O. Azaroff '.
…he painted a series of watercolours of the Costumes of the…
…she took to landscape in water-colours.
…plastics, junk, machinery parts, oils, watercolours and paper, and utilising the…
…produced 170 charcoal, pastel and watercolours before returning to London in…
…Royal Collection of Drawings and Watercolours.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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