In British English, the floor of a building which is level with the ground is called the ground floor. The floor above it is called the first floor, the floor above that is the second floor, and so on.
</li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">In American English, the floor which is level with the ground is called the first floor, the floor above it is the second floor, and so on.
</li></ul>The convention is not by any means consistent or universal throughout the United States.
It is not true that "ground floor" is British usage.
In the United States, in any big building, whatever floor has the main entrance to the outdoors is usually called the "ground floor." Hence the figurative expression, "get in on the ground floor," meaning to join or invest in a brand-new business.
That floor might be called the "first floor." For example, if it is a motel where there are rooms on that floor, they will want to number the rooms 101, 102 rather than G01, G02 so there is a tendency to call it the "first floor."
In an ordinary two-story home--at least in my part of the country--the two main living floors are always called the "first floor" and "second floor." The first floor has the main entrance. There will often be a basement below the first floor and an attic above the second floor.
By the way, it is quite common in the United States for a tall building to omit the thirteenth floor--the elevator buttons will be numbered 10, 11, 12, 14, 15. This tradition seems to be fading in recently-built buildings but it is still very common.
Yes, that's right.
Just out of curiosity, which convention do other English speakers use? I would imagine that Canadians would use the US convention, and that the Irish and Maltese would use the British one, but how about other parts of the world = Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean?
It is amazing how questions from language learners make native speakers start to question their own language and think about things they never thought about.
I am going to be looking at the elevator buttons for awhile now. I agree with Dan that that convention is not universal throughout the U.S. In public buildings the floor at ground level is often called the ground floor and the elevator button is G.
However I think that in American buildings the floor above it is always the 2nd floor, not the first floor as in British English. But now I am not sure because I honestly do not pay that much attention. (Am I right Dan or do I need to start looking at elevator buttons more?)
Su Ki: In Australia we use the British system. I have seen the odd place use the American system, but it's not very common.
I also once stayed at a hotel where the ground floor was called the third floor, and there was a library at my uni in Canberra where the ground floor was called the second floor. For whatever reason they chose to start counting the underground floors.
Great isn't it!!! :-)
Yes the ground floor is on the ground and the first floor is the first floor off the ground. All very logical :-) Lol
