Video

License vs. Licence

Hi, my name is Peter and welcome to TransLegal's Lesson of the Week.

Today we're going to be talking about the term licence.

As you can see from the whiteboard, there are two different spellings of licence. L I C E N C E and L I C E N S E. Now this is important when you're talking about the noun licence which is the actual document that gives you the permission to do something or to own something and it's important in the context of the difference between UK and US usage.

In England, the noun, the document granting a licence, is spelled L I C E N C E. In the US, it is spelled L I C E N S E.

Now when it comes to the verb, it gets a little bit easier – the verb to license – which is the actual granting of, or conveying of, the giving of the licence or the permission to do something or own something. Then, in both instances, in the UK and the US, the spelling is the same, L I C E N S E.

So in the US it's quite simple. License is always spelled L I C E N S E. In the United Kingdom, the spelling of licence is different if you're talking about the noun -- the actual document, the licence itself, then its L I C E N C E.

Now one more thing before we go today. This is quick. The term debt – which is money owed. And this is not a spelling problem but a pronunciation problem and one that my colleagues and I hear all the time. So debt is spelled D E B T. Whether you're in the United Kingdom or the United States it's pronounced debt as if it's just DET. You never pronounce the B.

So that's it for today. As always, if you have any questions please leave them in the comments section below and myself or one of my colleagues will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you.