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Gaol is an early version of jAS early modern English spelling for jail with the same pronunciation and meaning. Although jail is now more common, gaol is still the favoured spelling in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, for example in Australia, and New Zealand. However, the spelling jail is now more common in popular contexts such as the media, the spelling gaol being mainly retained in historical use and in the legal profession. Canada, also a part of the Commonwealth, has made a similar transition in usage.

Gaol also remains in use as the standard spelling of jail in Ireland, but note that it typically applies to defunct English-run gaols from the English occupation of Ireland.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that "gaol" comes from the Norman French spelling gaiole down to the 17th century as gaile. It remains in written form in the archaic spelling gaol mainly through statutory and official tradition. The only remaining spoken pronunciation is jail (/ˈdʒeɪl/), from the Old Parisian French word jaiole. In modern French, the word geôle is still used in literary contexts to refer to jail.

From the 16th until the 18th centuries the word goal(e) was used widely, possibly as an erroneous spelling of gaol, or possibly an unusual phonetic spelling.

Tim Moore in his book on Monopoly "Do Not Pass Go" suggests that, in Britain, the change from "gaol" to "jail" was precipitated by the popularity and spread of Monopoly in the 1930s and '40s. The non-London specific squares and cards had been copied wholesale from the original Atlantic City version where the spelling "jail" was commonplace. It is also for this reason that the policeman on the "Go to Jail" square features a clearly American uniform in contrast to the traditional style British police helmet.

Gaol is one of the few words in the English language in which the letter G preceding a letter other than E, Y, or I is pronounced /dʒ/ .

References

1. In British official use the forms with G are still current; in literary and journalistic use both the G and the J forms are now admitted as correct, but all recent Dictionaries give the preference to the latter. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1st Edition.)
2. The Macquarie Dictionary is the standard reference for Australian English. "The Australian spelling of 'jail' is 'gaol'" (an Australian Government site
3. New Zealand Department of Corrections
4. Kilmainham Gaol
5. Wicklow Gaol
6. Cork City Gaol
7. OED

• English spelling
• English words
• American and British English differences