Barbeque or Barbecue: A Clear Correct Spelling Guide

When choosing between barbeque or barbecue, use barbecue in standard American English. It is the primary spelling in major dictionaries and the safest choice for school, business, journalism, and other edited writing. Barbeque also appears in real usage, and Merriam-Webster recognizes it as a variant. However, it remains less common and may look like a spelling error to many readers.

The word barbecue has several uses. It can name a cooking method, cooked food, an outdoor gathering, or a cooking device. It also works as a verb. No matter which meaning you intend, the spelling with a c remains the best general choice.

Quick Answer

For barbeque or barbecue, choose barbecue in standard writing. Barbeque is a recorded but less common variant, so it is not imaginary or universally incorrect. Still, many editors and spell-checkers prefer barbecue. Preserve the variant when it forms part of an official restaurant name, product, event title, or exact quotation.

TL;DR

• Barbecue is the standard and safest spelling.
• Barbeque is a less common dictionary variant.
• BBQ is an accepted informal abbreviation.
• The word can function as a noun or verb.
• The correct -ing form is barbecuing.
• Preserve unusual spellings in official names and quotations.

Barbeque vs. Barbecue at a Glance

Form	Status or Function	Best Use
barbecue	Standard spelling	Formal and informal writing
barbeque	Less common variant	Informal use or established names
BBQ	Accepted abbreviation	Signs, menus, texts, and casual writing
Bar-B-Q	Stylized form	Brand names and advertising
barbecued	Past tense or adjective	“We barbecued chicken”
barbecuing	Standard -ing form	“They are barbecuing outside”

Which Spelling Is Correct: Barbeque or Barbecue?

Barbecue is the standard spelling. Use it when you need the form most readers, dictionaries, teachers, and editors will accept without hesitation.

Merriam-Webster lists barbecue as the main entry and records barbeque as a variant.

Its barbecue dictionary entry

also gives the verb forms barbecued and barbecuing.

Meanwhile, the Cambridge Dictionary entry

uses barbecue for the noun and verb senses.

Correct:

• We are planning a barbecue for Saturday.
• Jordan will barbecue the chicken.
• Please bring the barbecue sauce.

Less suitable for edited prose:

• We are planning a barbeque for Saturday.

The last sentence remains understandable. Nevertheless, barbecue is the better editorial choice.

What Does Barbecue Mean?

The meaning of barbecue depends on its place in the sentence. It can describe four closely related ideas.

A Cooking Method

Barbecue can refer to cooking food over heat or smoke:

• Low heat and wood smoke give the barbecue its distinct flavor.
• The restaurant specializes in traditional barbecue.

Food Prepared That Way

The word can name the prepared food:

• We ordered barbecue for lunch.
• The barbecue was tender and smoky.

An Outdoor Meal or Gathering

It may also name a social event:

• The neighbors invited us to a backyard barbecue.
• Our office barbecue begins at noon.

A Cooking Device

In some varieties of English, especially British English, a barbecue can mean the outdoor appliance or grill:

• They bought a new gas barbecue.
• Clean the barbecue after it cools.

Context usually makes the intended sense clear.

Is Barbeque a Misspelling?

Barbeque is better described as a nonstandard-looking or secondary variant than as a word that never exists. Merriam-Webster recognizes it, and published examples appear in several English-speaking regions.

However, dictionary recognition does not make two forms equally common or equally suitable everywhere. Barbecue remains the primary spelling and the safest option in:

• American school assignments
• News articles
• Business documents
• General website content
• Formal invitations
• Recipes and cookbooks
• Restaurant descriptions

You should retain barbeque when it belongs to an official name:

• Bob’s Backyard Barbeque
• The Summer Barbeque Festival
• Barbeque House Catering

Changing an established brand or event title can make the name inaccurate. Similarly, preserve the source’s original spelling inside an exact quotation.

This distinction between a preferred form and a recognized alternative also appears in the site’s guide to

acknowledgement or acknowledgment.

Why Is Barbecue Spelled With a C?

The c reflects the word’s history. English borrowed barbecue through the American Spanish word barbacoa. That Spanish word came from an Arawakan language spoken in the Caribbean and referred to a wooden framework used for cooking or drying food.

The Online Etymology Dictionary’s history of barbecue

records the English noun from the 1690s and connects it with American Spanish barbacoa. Therefore, barbecue was not formed from the modern abbreviation BBQ.

A common story claims the word came from the French phrase barbe à queue, or “beard to tail.” However, reliable etymological accounts do not accept that story as the source of the English word.

Use this memory aid:

Barbacoa contains a c, so barbecue contains a c.

The memory aid reflects the word’s documented history rather than an invented spelling trick.

How to Use Barbecue as a Noun

As a noun, barbecue may be countable or uncountable.

Countable Uses

Use a barbecue when referring to one event, device, or specific instance:

• Ella hosted a barbecue for her new neighbors.
• We bought a portable barbecue for the campsite.
• The school organized three barbecues during the summer.

The regular plural is barbecues.

Uncountable Uses

Use barbecue without a when referring generally to a style of food:

• Texas is famous for barbecue.
• We ate barbecue after the game.
• This restaurant serves excellent barbecue.

In these sentences, barbecue works like a mass noun. It refers to a type of food rather than one individual item.

Possessive Form

The singular possessive is barbecue’s:

• The barbecue’s smoky flavor came from oak wood.

The plural possessive is barbecues’:

• The barbecues’ locations appear on the event map.

How to Use Barbecue as a Verb or Modifier

Barbecue functions as a regular verb meaning to cook food using a barbecue method.

Present tense:

• I barbecue vegetables every Friday.
• Luis barbecues ribs for family gatherings.

Past tense:

• We barbecued chicken last night.
• The chef barbecued the meat over wood.

Progressive form:

• They are barbecuing in the backyard.
• She was barbecuing when the rain started.

The word also appears before another noun:

• barbecue sauce
• barbecue restaurant
• barbecue competition
• barbecue chicken

In these phrases, barbecue acts as a noun modifier. Meanwhile, barbecued can work as a participial adjective:

• The guests enjoyed barbecued corn.
• He ordered a barbecued pork sandwich.

The spelling guide to

ambience or ambiance

offers another example of choosing a preferred form while recognizing an established alternative.

Barbecuing, Barbecueing, or Barbequing?

Barbecuing is the standard -ing form of barbecue.

Correct:

• We are barbecuing this evening.

Avoid in standard edited writing:

• We are barbecueing this evening.
• We are barbequing this evening.

To form barbecuing, remove the silent final e before adding -ing:

barbecue − e + ing = barbecuing

The same general process produces forms such as making from make and using from use. However, the unusual sequence of letters in barbecuing makes it look unfamiliar.

Other standard forms include:

• barbecue
• barbecues
• barbecued
• barbecuing

Although barbeque has corresponding variant forms in some dictionaries and real-world writing, using the standard barbecue family avoids uncertainty.

Is BBQ the Same as Barbecue?

BBQ is an abbreviation of barbecue.

Merriam-Webster’s BBQ entry

defines it as shorthand for barbecue.

BBQ fits naturally in:

• Casual messages
• Restaurant signs
• Menus
• Social media captions
• Event posters
• Product labels

Examples:

• We are having BBQ tonight.
• Maya ordered the BBQ sandwich.
• The town will hold a BBQ festival.

For formal prose, spell out barbecue unless the abbreviation is part of an official name or your readers already know it.

Stylized spellings such as Bar-B-Q, B-B-Q, and bar-b-que often appear in advertising and business names. They can create a playful or traditional look, but they are not preferable to barbecue in ordinary sentences.

The abbreviation BBQ does not prove that barbeque must contain a q. The final sound of barbecue resembles the spoken name of the letter Q, which explains the abbreviation.

How to Pronounce Barbecue

In American English, barbecue is commonly pronounced:

/ˈbɑːr.bə.kjuː/

A simple pronunciation guide is:

BAR-buh-kyoo

Merriam-Webster represents the pronunciation as \ˈbär-bi-ˌkyü\. The first syllable carries the main stress.

Both barbecue and the variant barbeque are normally pronounced the same way. The spelling difference does not produce a different final sound.

The word has three clear parts:

• BAR
• buh or bee, depending on accent
• kyoo

Do not pronounce the written cue as three separate sounds.

Barbecue, Grilling, Cookout, and Roast

These words overlap, but they are not always interchangeable.

Term	Main Meaning	Important Limitation
Barbecue	Cooking with heat or smoke; the food or event	Meaning varies by region
Grilling	Cooking quickly over direct heat	Often contrasts with slow barbecue in the U.S.
Cookout	An informal outdoor meal	Describes the event, not a cooking technique
Roast	Cooking with dry heat or a social meal	Does not necessarily involve a grill or smoke
BBQ	Informal abbreviation for barbecue	Less suitable for formal prose

Compare:

• We invited everyone to a cookout.
• We served slow-smoked barbecue at the cookout.
• We grilled the vegetables over direct heat.

A cookout may include barbecue, grilled food, or both. Therefore, cookout describes the gathering more clearly than the cooking method.

How to Choose the Best Form

Use this four-step decision process.

1. Choose barbecue for normal writing.
   This form works in American and British English and causes the fewest editorial problems.
2. Use BBQ when brevity or an informal tone helps.
   It works well on signs, menus, invitations, and casual messages.
3. Preserve official spellings.
   Keep barbeque or Bar-B-Q in registered names, event titles, and accurate quotations.
4. Keep your spelling consistent.
   Do not switch randomly among barbecue, barbeque, and bar-b-que in original prose.

A spell-checker may flag barbeque even though some dictionaries record it. That warning reflects the standard editorial preference. It does not prove that every appearance of the variant must be changed.

For another spelling choice affected by editorial preference,

see aesthetic or esthetic.

Common Spelling and Usage Mistakes

Using Barbeque in Formal Writing

Less suitable:

• The company will host a barbeque for its employees.

Preferred:

• The company will host a barbecue for its employees.

Writing Barbecueing

Incorrect:

• We are barbecueing burgers.

Correct:

• We are barbecuing burgers.

Assuming BBQ Requires Barbeque

Incorrect idea:

• BBQ contains two Qs, so the full word must be barbeque.

Better:

• BBQ represents the sounds and meaning of barbecue; it does not reproduce every letter.

Changing a Proper Name

Incorrect editing:

• Changing “Johnson’s Barbeque” to “Johnson’s Barbecue” when the first form is the restaurant’s official name.

Correct approach:

• Preserve the company’s chosen spelling.

Confusing Barbecue With Cookout

Unclear:

• We cooked a barbecue in the park.

Better:

• We held a cookout in the park and barbecued chicken.

Like ageing or aging,

the safest choice depends on recognizing the standard form without erasing valid context-specific alternatives.

FAQs

Test Your Understanding

1. Which spelling is safest in a formal American report? A. Barbeque
   B. Barbecue
   C. Bar-be-cue
   D. Barbaque
2. Which sentence uses the standard -ing form? A. We are barbecueing chicken.
   B. We are barbequeing chicken.
   C. We are barbecuing chicken.
   D. We are barbecued chicken.
3. In which situation should a writer preserve barbeque? A. It is part of a restaurant’s official name.
   B. The writer cannot remember the standard spelling.
   C. Every formal document requires it.
   D. The sentence contains the abbreviation BBQ.
4. Which sentence uses barbecue as a verb? A. The barbecue begins at five.
   B. This barbecue tastes smoky.
   C. We bought a new barbecue.
   D. We will barbecue the vegetables.
5. What does BBQ represent? A. A formal plural of barbecue
   B. An informal abbreviation of barbecue
   C. A different cooking technique
   D. The only correct spelling

Answer Key

1. B — Barbecue. It is the standard spelling for formal American writing.
2. C — Barbecuing. The final e is removed before adding -ing.
3. A — An official restaurant name. Proper names should retain their established spelling.
4. D — We will barbecue the vegetables. Here, barbecue names the action.
5. B — An informal abbreviation. BBQ is accepted shorthand for barbecue.

Conclusion

For barbeque or barbecue, use barbecue as your default spelling. It is the primary form in major dictionaries and works in both American and British English. Barbeque is a recognized but less common variant, so preserve it in official names and exact quotations. Use BBQ for informal shorthand, and remember the standard word forms: barbecues, barbecued, and barbecuing. When uncertain, connect barbecue with its historical source, barbacoa—both contain a c.

Related Grammar and Language Guides

Acknowledgement or Acknowledgment: Which Is Correct?

Ageing or Aging: Correct Spelling With Easy Examples

Ambience or Ambiance: Correct Spelling With Examples

Aesthetic or Esthetic: Correct Spelling and Clear Guide

Afterward or Afterwards: Which Is Correct in US English?