October 25, 2022

Sulfur vs Sulphur

The phonic spelling ‘Sulfur’ is the common spelling in North American English, while British English uses the ‘ph’ – Sulphur spelling. The French “soufre” entered English in the late 14th century, and both spellings have been used for many centuries.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) addressed this issue as late as 1990 and decided it should be spelled with an ‘f’ – Sulfur.