How Do You Spell the Color Gray? - Grammarly

Grey and gray are two different spellings of the same word. Gray is more common in the U.S., while grey is more common in other English-speaking countries. Real-timesuggestions,whereveryouwrite.GetGrammarlyIt'sFreeReal-timesuggestions,whereveryouwrite.GetGrammarlyIt'sFreeHowDoYouSpelltheColorGray?MarkoTicakGrammarAsanoun,grayusuallyreferstothecolor.Itcanbeusedasanadjectivewhenwewanttosaythatthecolorofsomethingisashadeofgray.Itcanalsobeusedasaverb,forwhensomethinggrays(i.e.,turnsgray,suchashair).Butregardlessofitsuse,you’llsometimesfindthatgrayisnotspelledthewayyouthinkitshouldbe.Or,youmightbereadingthisandthinking“thosepeopleatGrammarlyreallydon’tknowtheirspelling—it’sgrey.”So,what’sbehindthegrey/graydilemma,andisthereanydifferencebetweenthem,besidestheobvious? Greyandgrayaretwodifferentspellingsofthesameword.GrayismorecommonintheU.S.,whilegreyismorecommoninotherEnglish-speakingcountries.Inpropernames—likeEarlGreyteaandtheunitGray,amongothers—thespellingstaysthesame,andtheyneedtobememorized. Here’satip:Wanttomakesureyourwritingalwayslooksgreat?Grammarlycansaveyoufrommisspellings,grammaticalandpunctuationmistakes,andotherwritingissuesonallyourfavoritewebsites. Grayvs.Grey—WhereDoestheDifferenceComeFrom? Doesyourvowelchoicereallymakealotofdifferenceinthecaseofthecolorgray?Itdoesn’t. Here’satip: Thespellingdoesn’taffectthemeanings,andbothspellingsareperfectlyfine.However,besuretousethestyleappropriateforyourgeography. Thepronunciationremainsthesameregardlessofthespellingyou’reusing.Infact,bothspellingshavetheexactsameorigin. BothgrayandgreycomefromtheOldEnglishwordgrǽg.Overtime,manydifferentspellingsoftheworddeveloped.TheMiddleEnglishpoem“TheOwlandtheNightingale,”whichwaswritteninthetwelfthorthirteenthcentury,usesthespelling“greie.”Thefourteenth-centurytranslationoftheFrenchpoem“RomandelaRose”usesthespelling“greye.”“Graye”canbefoundinthepoem“PiersPlowman”writtenbyWilliamLanglandinthesecondhalfofthefourteenthcentury.ExamplesofthespellingsweusetodaycanalsobefoundinMiddleEnglishliterature. Bytheeighteenthcentury,“grey”hadbecomethemorecommonspelling,eventhoughthelegendarylexicographerSamuelJohnsonthoughtthat“gray”wasabetterversion.Inthenineteenthcentury,EnglishdictionariesfollowedJohnson’scueandprescribed“gray”asthecorrectversion,buttonoavail.Bythetwentiethcentury,“grey”hadbecometheacceptedspellingeverywhereexceptintheUnitedStates. Here’satip: GrayismorecommonintheUnitedStates,andgreyismorecommonintherestoftheEnglish-speakingworld. So,youcanwrite: ThethingthatstuckwithmefromthetimeIspentinLondonwasthegraysky. Butyoucanalsowrite: ThethingthatstuckwithmefromthetimeIspentinLondonwasthegreysky. Weusegray/greyasaverbwhenwewanttosaythatsomethingisbecominggray/grey.Becausegray/greyhairisusuallyassociatedwithaging,wesometimesmentionitasawaytoshowthatsomeoneisgettingolder: John’shairstartedtogray/grey longbeforeheretired. Itdoesn’tmatterwhetheryou’reusingtheword“gray”asanoun,adjective,oraverb.Youcansaythatsomeone’shairhasgrayedoveracoupleofmonths,butyoucanalsosaythatitgreyed.Thingscanbegreyish,buttheycanalsobegrayish. GreyandGray—AreTheyAlwaysInterchangeable? Incommonusage,there’snodifferencebetweenthewordsgreyandgray.Somepeoplemightbelieveeachspellingreferstoadifferentshadeofgray,andit’squitepossibleyou’llseethisinpracticewhenlookingatcolorswatches. Butthereareacoupleofcaseswhereyoureallyshouldmindthevowels.Oneofthosecasesisgreyhound,thedogbreed.Itshouldalwaysbespelledwithane,notana.It’stheotherwayaroundforthegrayling,aspeciesoffishwithanamethat’salwaysspelledwithana. IfGreyissomeone’slastname,youobviouslyshouldn’tchangeittoGraytomatchthewayyouthinkitshouldbespelled.Propernounsareofflimits—thevowelsinthemcannotbechanged.AndneithercanthevowelinGray,theunitforfoodirradiation—it’salwaysspelledwithana. Yourwriting,atitsbest.GetGrammarlyforfreeWorksonallyourfavoritewebsitesRelatedArticlesGrammar80MostCommonPhrasalVerbsGrammarWhatIsanAdjectivePhrase?GrammarPronounsGrammarHowtoUseIrregularVerbsGrammarWhatAreModalVerbs?GrammarIndirectObjectsinEnglish(withExamples)Writing,grammar,andcommunicationtipsforyourinbox.subscribeYouhavebeensuccessfullysubscribedtotheGrammarlyblog.Writewithconfidence.Getreal-timesuggestionswhereveryouwrite.GetGrammarlyIt'sFree“Grammarlyquicklyandeasilymakesyourwritingbetter.”—Forbes