American > British Glossary | I
Smoothing and improving transatlantic communication
| Index of Americanisms |
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O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Briticisms |
 American
term or expression |
 British
equivalent, or explanation |
|---|---|
| icebox | fridge, refrigerator |
| ice-cream cone | cornet |
| in the cards [colloq.] (likely or probable) | on the cards [colloq.] |
| in back, in back of (behind) | at the back, at the back of |
| in the hospital (hospitalized) | in hospital |
| in the sack [colloq.] | in bed |
| inbox | in tray |
| Inc. (Incorporated) | Ltd.
(Abbreviation for 'Limited'. Ltd. company owners have limited personal liability in the event of bankruptcy.) |
| income (in accounting) | profit |
| income statement (in accounting) | profit and loss account |
| independent clause (grammar) | main clause |
| India ink | Indian ink |
| industrial park | industrial estate, trading estate |
| infeasible, infeasibility | unfeasible, unfeasibility |
| infirmary | sickroom at US school, college, prison, etc. |
| inn | small, rural area hotel; sometimes a bar |
| inseam (length of inside seam on pair of pants) | inside leg |
| installment plan purchase | hire purchase, HP |
| instant replay | action replay |
| interchange | highway junction with level separation |
| intermission (break during theater performance) | interval |
| intern
(new hospital doctor gaining on-the-job experience and still undergoing training) |
houseman |
| intersection | crossroad, crossroads, junction |
| interstate, interstate highway | trunk road or motorway linking major U.S. cities |
| inventories (goods available for delivery) | stocks |
| IPO, initial public offering | flotation |
| Italian dressing | French dressing |
| Italian ice | water ice, sorbet |
| Ivy League | America's most reputable universities, all located in the northeast: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale (compare Britain's Oxbridge). |
