Spell February or Febuary? A Fun Lesson!

How do you spell February (or Febuary?) — the month after January? There are certainly valid reasons for all the confusion that arises around the second month of the year! In today’s lesson, we will learn an easy trick to remember the correct way to write this commonly misspelled word.

As background, my name is Ms. Marshall, and I’ve been an English teacher for nearly twenty years. I’m also an artist, so I hand-draw every illustration — such as my recent tutorial on “Greatful vs. Grateful.” Time to dive in!

How Do You Spell February?

February is the hardest month to spell, because it has a silent letter! The confusion comes because we pronounce that month before March as “Feb-YOU-ary,” meaning that it sounds like it should be written as: “Febuary.” However, that configuration of letters is incorrect, and should be thrown into the trash along with the misspelling, “recieve.”

In fact, the correct spelling is actually “February” — with a silent “R” in the middle! Yes, it seems that it then should be pronounced “Feb-ROO-ary,” but it’s not.

WHAT?! Yes, this seems completely illogical — like “Firey vs. Fiery…” however, when you understand the etymology and history of the word, it all falls into place.

Origin of the Month’s Name

Like learning about how to spell fuchsia, Feburary’s spelling makes more sense once you know the history. The name “February” derives from “Februa,” the Ancient Roman festival of purification. All right, all right… I see the “R” in the middle of the origin word there.

Below is my cartoon illustration to help you remember the spelling. Aww — who knew the letter “R” could be so cute?

Capitalizing February

Now, part of writing a word correctly is making sure we also capitalize letters where needed. Since months are proper nouns, “February” always needs a capital “F” at the start of the word. (Note: See my article, “Are Seasons Capitalized?” for a much less logical upper-case rule.)

Like months, holidays are also proper nouns, so the big, loving holiday in the month in question is written: “Valentine’s Day” with both first letters upper-case. Therefore, an example of a full sentence using all these grammatical English language rules correctly would be: “In the Northern Hemisphere, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14, during winter.”

Spell February, Not Febuary!

Now you know: Spell “February” with a capital first letter, and an “R” in the middle, as well as an “R” as the second to last letter. “Febuary” is a misspelling that should never be used — like “seperately.”

I hope this English lesson is helpful. What else would you like me to explain and illustrate with cute drawings? Do share!