"Oriented" vs. "orientated"

What are the origins of the word orientated?

As far as I know, the correct spelling is oriented and orientated is not an alternative spelling but an error that is in common use.

Is it for example more commonly used in a certain country or by a certain people? Is there a reason for people choosing to say or write orientated instead of oriented?

Solution 1:

People say orientated because they hear the word orientation and think that's the verb made from it. It's called a "back-formation". (See Why are "colleagues" becoming "work colleagues"?). Orientated is accepted as an alternate by most dictionaries I've seen.

To orient something comes from the medieval practice of building cathedrals so that the apse, the part of the building that contained the altar, would be on the eastern side (hence orient).

(I suppose if they screwed up and got it the other way around the architects just shrugged and said, "Well, occidents will happen.")

Solution 2:

Orientate is standard in British English, you orientate something when you point it in a particular direction, hence orientated. In American English, you orient something, hence oriented.

englishplus.com/grammar suggests it is more widely accepted in the UK than in the US but should be avoided in formal writing. I found similar comments at wordwizard.com. I don't have the tools to do the formal statistical analysis, but growing up in the UK I don't think I ever heard anyone say the shorter form, hence my assertion that it is standard. I should probably have said more common in British English, and would love to see the stats if anyone can provide them.

Solution 3:

As others have mentioned, the existence of the two forms oriented and orientated is one of the many differences that American English has from British English.

I have noticed this in American television programmes where American people have used the alternatives orient and oriented. This has always stood out as different and odd to me. Not only to me. It has been noticed by relatives when I watch television with them. They have commented on how different and odd this sounds to them as British people. They, like me, had not heard it until quite recently, in American television programmes.

It's different and odd because this is not normal in the UK. In all my life, I have only heard fellow British people use the words orientate and orientated. This is what I learnt, as a child.

My personal experiences are confirmed by the following dictionary entry for orientate, which mentions “(US orient)”: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/orientate_1?q=orientate

Solution 4:

I'm Canadian and have only started hearing "orientated" recently. It sounds awful to my ears and back-formed as if someone is trying to sound smart.