To help industry professionals — not only English speakers but non-English speakers who do business in English or with English-speaking countries or organizations — understand terminology variants in existence, we have put together the beginnings of three listings of terminology synonyms: one of general, risk, and financing terms; the second of life insurance, healthcare, and pension terms; and the third of property/casualty terms.

We say “beginnings” because we need you to help us refine and add to the listings. You can submit your refinements or new terms — anonymously or signed — at the end of each listing.

We have used the following methodology for creating the listings:

• Terms must be true synonyms, that is, interchangeable within a statement. Thus, terms such as “coinsurance” and “average,” in the sense of underinsurance in property coverage, are not true synonyms, despite identical meaning, because they are not interchangeable within their respective language groups, that is, American English and British English.
• Near synonyms, that is, words that are not interchangeable, are excluded. For example, the terms “quota-share reinsurance” and “proportional reinsurance” are near synonyms. That’s because “quota-share reinsurance" is “proportional reinsurance,” but “proportional reinsurance” is not “quota-share reinsurance.” The latter is only one form of proportional reinsurance.
• The listings have a U.S. bias. Thus, unless otherwise noted, all terms are American or global.
• Terms must be in current use.
• Minor differences (for example, life insurance policy vs. life insurance contract) are disregarded.
• When clarification of line of insurance or type of benefit is needed or helpful, an identifying code, linked to the full name, is provided.