Expiry/Expiration

Question

What's the difference between "expiry" and "expiration"?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:2]What's the difference between "expiry" and "expiration"?[/nq]
One is shorther than the other. :-)
(That's why I use it.)
McB

Usenet · Answer

"McB" (Email Removed) schrieb im Newsbeitrag
[nq:1]One is shorther than the other. :-) (That's why I use it.)[/nq]
Actually, there is an extremely important difference.

"Expiry" means "death" or "termination", and comes from Latin "exspirare", meaning "to breath out" or, metaphorically, "to give up the ghost" (from "spirare" we get our word "spirit"). So "expiry" is the act of breathing one's last.
"Expiration" means "that which is breathed out", and so can also mean the air you expel from your lungs, and also the sound of breathing out. In addition to that, it can also mean a formal termination of a contract.

I would normally use "expiry" as part of a compound noun "expiry date", meaning the date on which a contract is expected to expire. "Expiration" is the actual act of terminating the contract.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Actually, there is an extremely important difference. "Expiry" means "death" ... expire. "Expiration" is the actual act of terminating the contract.[/nq]
Good point. Thanks.
McB

Expiry/Expiration

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