Fulfillment or Fulfilment? It’s All the Same!

What’s the Difference Between Fulfillment and Fulfilment?

You say potato, I say pot-ah-to. You write fulfillment, you’re using the US spelling; you write fulfilment, you’re using the spelling used in the UK. It means the same thing and, in logistics terms, is the same service!

But how did the word come to be used in the logistics sense? According to Wikipedia, the usage of the word “‘fulfillment” in relation to goods shipments comes from the terms “order fulfillment” and “product fulfillment”, which were introduced by business management researchers who analysed supply chains in the late 1980s.

Going back a bit further (the 13th century!), the rather fascinating www.etymonline.com gives the origin and meanings of the word as follows:

Old English fullfyllan “fill up” (a room, a ship, etc.), “make full; take the place of (something),” from full (adj.), here perhaps with a sense of “completion” + fyllan (see fill (v.), which is ultimately from the same root).

It was used from mid-13c. in reference to prophecy (probably translating Latin implere, adimplere). From mid-13c. as “do, perform; carry out, consummate, carry into effect;” from c. 1300 as “complete, finish; satiate, satisfy, gratify.”

So, now we know.