While and whilst 321

While and whilst
In standard British English and Australian English, whilst is synonymous with while in meaning and usage.
In American English and Canadian English, whilst can be considered pretentious or archaic[2][3]
Some publications on both sides of the Atlantic disapprove of whilst in their style guides (along with "amidst" and "amongst"), for example:
Times Online Style Guide: "while (not whilst)"[4]
Guardian Style Guide: "while not whilst"[5]
Hansard: the Canadian Parliament record: "while not whilst"[6]
Notably, there are no style guides that explicitly recommend the usage of whilst over while in any circumstance whatsoever. The general consensus among scholars of English is that whilst is an unnecessary and archaic word whose primary usage is by Britons who prefer what they perceive as a more 'noble' word. Its etymology derives from the early English whiles, and simply put, while is the word that has replaced whilst in modern English[2], just as thee and thou were replaced by