Kerb vs curb

[Haveanaiceday]

I recently read that the correct British spelling for the edge of the pavement is kerb. I feel sure I've seen it spelled curb here in the UK, more than anything but did I just imagine that? Has something changed, was I reading a lot of American stuff?

The edge of a road is a kerb.
The reduce or stop something is to curb it.
That is my opinion in the UK

This is correct

Well, yes, I've seen people on here using 'curb' but it jumps out because it should be 'kerb'.

You can also have a curb chain on a Pelham.

I've said this before and I'll probably say it again, gently. It's interesting. All of my more-than-70 years I have written 'kerb'. I am in the UK.
In about 2008 I went to the USA and saw a notice which said 'curb' - the same usage as I would use when talking about the 'kerb'.
Between my birth and 2008 I have read minutes of an English parish council, and seen the word written as 'curb'. It would have been between 1895 and 1910, I think.
Is it possible that it is one of the old words which the Americans kept and the Brits have changed?

Is it possible that it is one of the old words which the Americans kept and the Brits have changed?

Yes. The 'curb' spelling reflects its etymology, it's unclear why the 'kerb' spelling was ever introduced for pavement edging while 'curb' was retained for the 'holding in check' type of meanings.

If there's a path along the side of the road it's usually higher than the road so I think of it as the kerb curbing the path and stopping it from falling into the road. If the path is made of concrete or tarmac there must have been a time when it was liquid and the kerb did exactly that job!
Paths are often called footways. My friend and I used to mutter about it. If a path is a footway presumably a road is a wheelway. (Digression)

If a path is a footway presumably a road is a wheelway

Or a hoofway?

Kerb is the UK English spelling, curb is the US American spelling, for the edge or the pavement/sidewalk. Generally, established UK spellings are used internationally, so sort of always correct, but US spellings are established/legit too, and correct to use for a US audience (although the UK spelling is not considered wrong).

In this case, understanding and usage may be complicated by the fact that curb is also a verb, and used in general in English to mean restrict, so possibly more generally familiar than kerb?

Generally, established UK spellings are used internationally, so sort of always correct, but US spellings are established/legit too

I'm not at all sure your perception that U.K. spellings rather than US ones are used internationally is really the case nowadays.

A bit like window cill or window sill

Carriageway is the word you're looking for @ErrolTheDragon

Also I think the kerb is more about "curbing" vehicles from encroaching onto the footway as there is something similar in railway design. Acting as formwork for the footway construction is a bonus.

In highway engineering, "pavement" refers to the bit vehicles drive on , ie the sequence of layers topped with tarmac, that is well confusing.

I am reminded of a film, possibly a Marx Brothers one, where one character kept saying, "Coib your entusiasm." (Curb your enthusiasm)