Use accessory in almost everything you write, including legal phrases like “accessory after the fact.” Accessary is an older spelling of the same word, and today it appears mostly in some British writing about people who help with a crime.
The difference between accessary and accessory comes down to history and house style, not meaning.
What “Accessory” Covers Today
Modern dictionaries put three jobs under the single word accessory:
- An add-on thing. The bike shop sells lights, locks and other accessories at cost to commuters.
- A secondary part (as an adjective, a describing word). The X-ray showed an accessory navicular, an extra bone that explained her foot pain.
- A person who helps with a crime but isn’t the main offender. His cousin was charged as an accessory after the fact for hiding the car.
Merriam-Webster lists all three under one entry and treats “accessary” as a less common variant. The plural is accessories. The verb is accessorize, and British English also allows accessorise.
Dictionaries and Style Guides Don’t Agree on “Accessary”
Sources fall into four camps: same word with a rare spelling, a law-only spelling, a person-vs.-thing rule, or a plain mistake.
| Source | Its view of “accessary” |
| Merriam-Webster | A less common variant of accessory |
| Collins English Dictionary | A less common spelling of accessory, used in law |
| Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries | Not listed; “accessory” carries the legal sense |
| Webster’s Dictionary (1913) | Said legal writers split between the spellings and criminal-law textbooks had stopped keeping them apart |
| The Century Dictionary (via Etymonline) | Suggested accessary for people and accessory for things, but called the line too fine to keep |
| Daily Telegraph Style Guide | Accessary for a person, accessory for a thing |
| Grammarly and Grammarist | Treat accessary as the legal spelling for someone who helps with a crime |
| Some grammar blogs | Call accessary outdated, and one calls it incorrect |
The biggest clash is over the legal sense. The law-only camp says a criminal helper is an “accessary.” The laws themselves use the other spelling.
Is “Accessory to Murder” Wrong?
No. “Accessory” is the spelling used in US, English and Australian law, even though at least one grammar site lists “charged him as an accessory to the robbery” as an error.
- United States. The federal criminal code has a section titled “Accessory after the fact,” covering anyone who knowingly helps an offender avoid arrest, trial or punishment.
- Australia. In New South Wales, being an “accessory after the fact of murder” is an offense under section 349 of the Crimes Act 1900, with a maximum of 25 years in prison.
- England. The main 1861 law on helping with crimes is called the Accessories and Abettors Act.
News reports use it too. One report said a woman was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact, citing the Riverside County district attorney’s office (Dictionary.com).
The older spelling still appears. The West Australian reported a man pleading guilty to being “an accessary to murder,” and the Guardian quoted Jeremy Bentham’s 1795 phrase “accessary after the fact” (Grammarist).
The legal labels themselves are fading. Many US states now charge a specific crime, such as obstructing justice, instead of “accessory after the fact.” England replaced its old rules with an offense of assisting offenders in the Criminal Law Act 1967. Scotland uses its own term, “art and part.”
Accessory, Accomplice and Abettor
- Accomplice. In some legal systems, an accomplice is usually at the crime and takes part in it.
- Accessory. This person helps without being the main actor, often before the crime or after it. Prosecutors argued she was an accessory to the fraud because she shredded the invoices.
- Abettor. New South Wales law uses this word for people who help with minor indictable offenses.
Why English Ended Up With Two Spellings
Both spellings date back to the 1400s. The historical Oxford dictionary says the noun was formed as “accessary,” with its earliest example from Caxton in 1480 (WEHD). Scholars later reshaped the spelling to match the Latin accessorius, and the noun slowly followed.
Book data shows when the switch happened. In Google Books Ngram figures for English, “accessary” peaked in 1814 and lost the lead to “accessory” for good around 1827.
Here is how often “accessory” appears in printed books for every one “accessary”:
| Year | Accessory per one accessary |
| 1815 | about 0.5 |
| 1850 | about 3 |
| 1900 | about 46 |
| 1950 | about 245 |
| 2022 | about 130 |
The fashion meaning came much later. According to Etymonline, “accessory” as a small item of dress dates to 1896, and “accessorize” to 1939.
Which Spelling to Use in Your Writing
- Most writing, US or UK: use accessory.
- A UK publication with a person/thing rule: use accessary for a person only if your style guide asks for it, as the Telegraph’s does.
- Quoting an older text: keep the original spelling, such as Bentham’s “accessary after the fact.”
- Legal documents: follow the spelling in the law you’re citing.
- Things, fashion, tech, medicine or housing: use accessory.
Collins limits accessary to the legal sense, so a 2021 Seattle Times line calling face jewelry a popular “accessary” stands out (Dictionary.com). Specialist fields use accessory: Virginia now allows accessory dwelling units by right, and geologists describe an accessory mineral in a rock.
How to Pronounce “Accessory”
Both spellings sound the same. Merriam-Webster gives the first syllable as “ik” or “ak,” and lists an “uh” version as less common.
Some usage writers reject that last one. Charles Harrington Elster (PBS) and Paul Brians (WSU) both warn against saying “uh-SES-uh-ree,” as if the word were “assessory.”
If you edit British copy and find “accessary,” check the house style for a person/thing rule before changing it. If there’s no such rule, switching to accessory costs you nothing and matches what most readers expect.
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I’m Hazel, and I studied BSC English at GCUF. I focus on explaining word meanings in simple, clear language that anyone can understand. My goal is helping readers grasp everyday English, confusing terms, and slang used in real conversations and social media. I believe language learning works best when definitions connect to actual life situations. Through careful research and straightforward explanations, I make vocabulary accessible for students, learners, and anyone curious about how English really works in daily use.