Till or Until: Which Is Correct?

Almost everyone has been corrected on this pair at some point — usually by someone insisting that till is just lazy shorthand for until. That correction is wrong, and it has the history exactly backwards. Till is not a shortened until; it is the older word. Merriam-Webster confirms that till existed in English at least a century before until, with continuous use since the 12th century, and calls it “a perfectly legitimate synonym of until.”

Both words are correct and interchangeable in modern English. The real questions are subtler: where does until sound better, what is wrong with ’til and ’till, and why did till get such an unfair reputation? Here is the complete answer.

Till vs Until at a Glance

Till Is the Older Word

This is the fact that settles the whole debate. The American Heritage Dictionary’s usage note states it plainly: till is the older word, and until was formed by adding the prefix un- (meaning “up to”) to it. Merriam-Webster agrees, noting that till has “seen continuous use in English since the 12th century” and existed “at least a century before until.”

Where did the myth come from? In the 18th century, the spelling ’till became fashionable — as if till were a clipped form of until. That apostrophised spelling is now nonstandard, but the false etymology it implied stuck in people’s minds. The truth: until is built on till, not the other way round. Both descend ultimately from Old Norse til, meaning “to” — which is also why till still means “to, towards” in Scots and northern English dialect (“gang till the shops”).

When to Use Which

In meaning, the two words are identical: both are prepositions and conjunctions meaning “up to the time of.” Collins’ usage note says till “is a variant of until that is acceptable at all levels of language.” So the choice is stylistic, not grammatical:

• Mid-sentence: either is fine. She waited till/until the rain stopped.
• At the start of a sentence: until is usually preferred in formal writing. Until you finish the report, don’t leave. (Both the American Heritage note and Collins agree on this point.)
• Formal documents: until carries a slightly more formal tone, so contracts, academic writing, and official letters tend to use it throughout.
• Conversation and informal prose: till is completely natural. I’ll be here till six.

The Apostrophe Variants: ‘Til and ‘Till

This is where real errors live. ‘Til and ’till are much newer than either till or until — Merriam-Webster dates ’til to the 19th century and ’till to the 20th — and they are treated very differently:

• ‘Til (with apostrophe) is an informal variant of until, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. It appears in song lyrics, advertising, and casual writing (“shop ’til you drop”), but usage guides consider it inappropriate for formal prose.
• ‘Till is roundly condemned. Bryan Garner’s usage guide calls it abominable, and Merriam-Webster notes it is “often rejected, apparently because it seems to have added a superfluous L to the end of until.” Never use it.
• Til (no apostrophe) is still regarded as wrong in standard writing — an informal clipping of until without even the courtesy of the apostrophe.

The practical rule: if you want the informal feel, till (no apostrophe) is already available and fully legitimate. There is never a reason to reach for ’till.

Correct vs Incorrect

• ✅ I’ll wait till you arrive. (Fully standard.)
• ✅ I’ll wait until you arrive. (Fully standard.)
• ✅ Until further notice, the office is closed. (Sentence start: until preferred.)
• ⚠️ Till further notice, the office is closed. (Not wrong, but until is the safer formal choice here.)
• ❌ I’ll wait ’till you arrive. (Nonstandard — condemned by usage guides.)
• ⚠️ Shop ’til you drop. (Informal only; fine in ads and lyrics, not in formal writing.)
• ✅ We talked till midnight. / ✅ We talked until midnight.

Till in Fixed Expressions

Some of English’s most familiar phrases run on till, which is further proof of the word’s deep roots — these idioms are far older than any style-guide debate:

• Till death do us part — the traditional marriage vow, in use for centuries.
• Till the cows come home — for a very long time (they argued till the cows came home).
• Till kingdom come — indefinitely, forever.
• From morning till night — all day long.

Nobody proposes rewriting these as until death do us part. The idioms preserve the word’s seniority in the language, and they are worth keeping exactly as they are.

Common Mistakes

Believing till is short for until. The single most widespread error about this pair — and it has the chronology backwards. Till predates until by a century or more; until is the derived form.

Writing ’till with an apostrophe. This is the spelling Merriam-Webster and Garner single out for condemnation. The apostrophe suggests letters were dropped from until, which never happened. Write till or until.

Correcting someone’s “till” to “until.” Well-meaning proofreaders do this constantly, and it is unnecessary. Collins explicitly accepts till at all levels of language. Save corrections for genuinely nonstandard forms.

Starting formal sentences with “till.” Not an error, but a tone mismatch. In a legal letter or academic paper, until at the sentence opening reads as more deliberate — which is why style guides recommend it there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “till” correct English?

Yes. Merriam-Webster calls it “a perfectly legitimate synonym of until” with continuous use since the 12th century, and Collins’ usage note says it is “acceptable at all levels of language.”

Which is older: till or until?

Till is older. It was in use by the 12th century; until was formed later by prefixing un- (“up to”) to till. The idea that till is a clipped until is a folk etymology encouraged by the 18th-century spelling ’till.

Should I write “till” or “’til”?

Write till. The apostrophe in ’til marks it as a clipping of until for informal use, while plain till is the ancient, fully standard word. There is almost no context where ’til is better than till.

Is “’till” ever acceptable?

No. Usage guides from Garner to Merriam-Webster treat ’till as nonstandard or worse. It is the one form in this whole family to avoid entirely.

Can “till” mean anything else?

Yes — watch for homographs. Till is also a noun meaning a cash drawer (the money in the till), a verb meaning to plough land (to till the soil), and a noun in geology for unstratified glacial drift. Context makes the meaning obvious.

The Takeaway

Till and until mean the same thing and are both correct — but till got there first, by centuries. Use either mid-sentence, lean toward until at the start of formal sentences, and leave the apostrophe variants alone: ’til is informal-only and ’till is simply wrong. The next time someone tells you till is lazy shorthand, you can tell them the history runs the other way.