Blonde versus Blond

I have a confession to make: the words blonde and blond have sometimes given me trouble.

In British English, blond is masculine and blonde is feminine. However, in American English blond is the correct spelling when it’s used as an adjective whereas in British English the gender spelling always applies.

American English: Suzie has blond hair. The blond girl playing golf is Suzie.

British English: Suzie has blonde hair. The blonde girl playing golf is Suzie.

If these words are used as nouns in American English, they keep their appropriate gender spelling.

Examples: She’s the blonde sitting at the table. He’s the blond smoking the pipe.

Until next time, friends, keep on writing!



5 thoughts on “Blonde versus Blond

  1. I still struggle with this as well, as earlier this year I was told we are to use “blond” for males and “blonde” for females. I’ve been using “blonde” for both males and females for years!

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