behaviour

American  

[bih-heyv-yer] / bɪˈheɪv yər /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. behavior.

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behaviour British  

/ bɪˈheɪvjə /

noun

1. manner of behaving or conducting oneself

2. behaving with careful good manners

3. psychol

   1. the aggregate of all the responses made by an organism in any situation

   2. a specific response of a certain organism to a specific stimulus or group of stimuli

4. the action, reaction, or functioning of a system, under normal or specified circumstances

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Spelling

See -or ¹.

Other Word Forms

• behavioural adjective

Etymology

Origin of behaviour

C15: from _behave ; influenced in form by Middle English havior , from Old French havoir , from Latin habēre to have

Explanation

Your behaviour is the way you act in various situations. Note that this word ends with "our," which is the British spelling, while the American English spelling is behavior. This discrepancy is common, and either spelling is correct. The Late Middle English word behavoure meant "to have possession," which seemingly refers to a person in control of his or her actions. If you are accused of childish behaviour, you might be acting as though you have little self-control. Scottish musician Shirley Manson once said: "A lot of celebrities just want money, fame, power, fancy cars, houses all over the world and have people bow down to them. To me, that's frightful behaviour."

Example Sentences

The company also published a blog on Tuesday outlining how OpenAI responds to users who display potentially dangerous behaviour on ChatGPT.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien's clip went viral and triggered a backlash that led to his arrest in Singapore, which has a reputation for not tolerating bad behaviour.

From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026

President Lee Jae Myung pledged in a social media post on Saturday to take the "strongest possible" action against "antisocial behaviour that exploits community crises to worsen them and profit from them".

From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026

It also recorded bumblebee visits to investigate the impacts of heatwaves on foraging behaviour.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Without an ability to compose fiction, Neanderthals were unable to cooperate effectively in large numbers, nor could they adapt their social behaviour to rapidly changing challenges.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari