Is there a difference? This dictionary, and others, gives them as synonyms but I argue to differ.
In my view, anyone who gives advice is an "adviser", whereas one who is employed to advise is an "advisor".
Having said that, I also argue there should be a second adjective, "advisery" to be used pertaining to general advice delivered and the term "advisory" used in relation to official advice delivered by an advisor, i.e. acting in an advisory position.

What sayest thou, anyone? Is there an advisor or adviser who ventures an opinion?

Speaking English as a second language, to a Finn advisor seems and sounds good.

Hehe, spell as you please! I learned English in America, but for the past two years I have been spelling "neighbour", "colour," etc. :-) I find "advisor" to be more pleasing to the eye, and I would even go so far to say that "advisor" has a rounder final syllable, such as in the word "or," and "adviser" is more in the middle, such as in the "word" (or rather sound) "errrr..." In the case there is this phonetic difference, I prefer 'advisor' to 'adviser.' I wouldn't under-estimate the power of personal opinion in shaping the way you use language.

As a Pom (English) living in Australia, when really unsure I defer to the Oxford English Dictionary (old habits, you know!). OED states that both spellings are acceptable but that it derives from Old French "aviser" & Latin ad (to) + Videre (see). Thus if literally taken, you would say the -er ending is probably more accurate, but I have to say I prefer the look of the -or ending! Try looking up "mortgager" on the free dictionary & it tells you it is the person who gives a mortgage in return for money to be repaid. It then gives an example "We became mortgagors..." i.e. it uses the alternative ending of -or! I'm sure there are many more examples of such (as an aside the OED only recognises the -or spelling in this instance!).

I'm definitely an 'adviser' person. However a colleague who used to proofread is of the opinion that that is an Americanised spelling and that the 'English' version should be 'advisor'. To confuse matters he is Scottish so I'll stick with the spelling I feel comfortable with.

ADVISER and ADVISOR mean the same. One is no more British, or American, than the other. A dictionary is only a reference, a guide if you will, to the common usage of words.It doesn't dictate usage. Usage is dictated by the natives of the language.If dictionaries are peremptory dictates of how we use and define words, then the language will eventually lose its evolutionary flow.

ad + visor comes from the latin ad (to, towards) and video (I look). video's principal parts are video, videre, vidi (as in veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered), visum. It is visum that we are interested in here. A Latin noun can be constructed from the fourth principal part, the supine stem, in this case vis-, and the -or suffix will be added to create a noun describing the person doing the action in question, so in this case "visor" (a word that in modern english means something that shields youe eyes, helps you to see), and also "advisor". There are many other examples of nouns being created in this way (vict-or, possess-or, vend-or, terminat-or, instigat-or) as well as related adjectives (amatory, derisory, advisory). So advisor is technically correct, being closer to the Latin, but over the thousands of years since the Romans were using these words, the spelling has changed, sometimes the americans were to blame, sometimes the english (around the time Dr Johnson wrote the first dicionary I would guess many of these words were standardised).

P.S. There are also examples of nouns ceated from the main verb stem, such as pro-vid-er, which comes from the prefix pro- and the main verb stem of video, vid- (see above). I'm not sure whether there is an observable pattern relating to the difference in meaning of nouns derived from the main verb stem or the supine; one might expect words derived from the supine to be more self-regarding, reflexive? I mention this to show that an -or ending is not always closer to the Latin than an -er ending.

Personally, I would use 'an adviser', for this is a word I was taught. However, when I looked it up in a dictionary, I found out that 'an advisor' is also rightful and acceptable term to use.

I, too, have found both being equivalent in the dictionary. Even my Webster's from 1975. But in my Harbrace College Handbook, -er is used to indicate "more". Easy to easier or "more easy". I could find nothing for -or however. So my vote is advisor for a person, even though the spell check has noted it as incorrect.

I do, too, Cat.

Advisee is the correct word.

Yes.

The er and the or at then end of each word affects the pronunciation.

ahan!

thanks RARA and Ruthp :)

Must be a UK/US thing as in well spoken British English Advisor and Adviser end in very different ways.

This has the makings of another dilemna

adviser /ədvaɪ.zə r / /-zɚ/ noun also advisor


someone whose job is to give advice about a subject
She is the party's main economic adviser. a financial advisor

Ref: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

I think it's just the same.