Fall or Autumn?
This month marks the first day of fall -- or is it autumn? 🤔 This is one season with two entirely different names. See if you know which one is the most common.
What's the most common word, in American English, for the season between summer and winter?
fall
autumn
Both are equally used.
Fall till Oct.; autumn in Nov.
And the correct answer is "fall." The older of the two words is “autumn,” which first came into English in the 1300s and derives from the Latin word “autumnus.” The word “fall” later emerged from the way that many writers used the phrase "the fall of the leaves" and the way that this then came to be associated with the season. In the 1600s, according to Merriam-Webster, English emigrated to North America, and “autumn” and “fall” were at first used relatively interchangeably in America. But by the 1800s, the English spoken in America and the English spoken in Britain had diverged, and “fall” came to be considered entirely American by American lexicographers. Nowadays, “fall” is occasionally used in countries where British English is spoken, but usually just in a handful of fixed phrases, like “spring and fall.”