The patterns of wearing jewellery between the sexes, and by children and older people can vary greatly between cultures, but adult women have been the most consistent wearers of jewellery; in modern Western culture the amount worn by adult males is relatively low compared with other cultures and other periods in Western culture. The word jewellery itself is derived from the word jewel, which was a
nglicized from the Old French "jouel", and beyond that, to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. In British English, it is spelled jewellery, while the spelling is jewelry in American English.