English noun/Catalogs/English irregular nouns
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The normal way to form a plural noun in English is to add the suffix -s, which changes into -es after an alveolar or postalveolar fricative, i.e. after s, z, ch and sh. Nouns with the stem ending in -ŷ after a consonant replace this ending with -íes[1] (after vowels: dónkeys, Mòndâys, formed regularly). But there are also many irregular nouns, some with English roots, others with plural forms from Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew and Arabic. (The accents, which are not part of the language, are included to show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings for a table and English phonemes for the IPA. There is also a key at the foot of this page. Words in italics suggest meaning, and an equals sign is placed between homophones.)
Nouns in -f vary between -fs and -ves. In particular, the traditional plural of dwårf was dwårfs, but Tolkien popularized dwårves.
Nouns in -o that always change to -ôes in the plural are included in the table below; others are regular, ending in -ôs, while búffalo, càrgo, hâlo, mosquìto (-skì-), mótto, nô, tornâdo, volcâno and zêro can be seen with both -ôs and -ôes.
Nouns of Latin origin in -us that always have -î in the plural are listed below, while cáctus, fôcus, fúngus, hippopótamus, óctopus and sýllabus can have both -î and -uses (though octopodes, not óctopi, is the correct Latin).
Nouns of Greek origin in -sís (-ssíss), análysis, áxis, bâsis, crîsis, diagnôsis, émphasis, hypóthesis, neurôsis, oâsis, parénthesis, synópsis, sýnthesis and thêsis have their plurals in -sês (-ssêez): análysês (*ənáləssêez) etc.
Nouns of Latin origin in -ndum, addéndum, referéndum and memorándum, change to -nda: addénda, referénda (optionally),[2] memoránda.
Apart from vŏrtex, plural vŏrtices (-tíssêez), nouns of Latin origin in -ex and -íx (âpex, appéndix, cërvix, índex and mâtrix) have plurals in both -icês and -xes (-xíz). índexes tend to be the things at the ends of books, while índices covers the more mathematical meanings.
Invariable nouns
The following have the same form in the singular and plural: ãircraft, bárracks, bîson, cód, cróssroads, dêer animal (= dêar loved, expensive), dîce (dîe as the singular of dîce is archaic), físh (although físhes can be used if more than one species of fish is involved),[3] gállows, hálibut, ínnings (cricket; in baseball the singular is ínning), héadquarters, mêans, moôse, óffspring, përch fish (otherwise përches), pîke fish (otherwise pîkes), sálmon (*sámmon), sêries, shêep, spêcies (-shíz), tròut and tûna.
Nouns with both regular and irregular forms
In the case of some nouns, there exist two plural forms—one regular ending in -s, the other irregular—where only one of the forms is correct in a given context:
anténna: anténnas, BrE only anténnaê
bròther: bròthers family, bréthren church
índéx: índéxes book, índícês mathematics
mêdium: mêdiums spiritualists, mêdia others
pénny: pénnies coins, pénce amount
përson: përsons formal, pêople everyday
referéndum: referéndums vote, referénda question
Table of irregular nouns
Prefixed nouns are not included if their plural endings are the same as that of the root noun: for example the plural of snôwmán is snôwmén.
| alùmnus[4] | alùmnî |
| BrE, AmE amoêba, AmE also amêba | BrE amoêbaê, amoêbas, AmE amoêbas |
| anténna | BrE anténnaê, both AmE and BrE anténnas |
| autómaton | autómata, autómatons |
| bacíllus | bacíllî |
| bactêrium | bactêria |
| bâsis | bâsês (*bâyssêez, cf. bâses base *bâyssíz = bâsses music) |
| bròther church | bréthren (-dh-; bròther family is regular: bròthers) |
| cālf (*cāf) | cālves (*cāvz) |
| chérub | chérubìm[5] theology, chérubs art |
| chîld | chíldren |
| cŏrpus | cŏrpora |
| critêrion | critêria (both -î-) |
| currículum | currícula, currículums |
| dâtum, dàtum | BrE dâta, AmE dáta |
| díctum | dícta, díctums |
| díngo | díngoes |
| écho | échoes (both ék-) |
| eistéddfod (eî-stédhvod) | eistéddfodau eî-stédhvodîe) or regular |
| élf | élves |
| embàrgo | embàrgoes |
| errātum | errāta |
| fôcus | fôcuses, fôcî (*fôassî) |
| foòt | fêet |
| fŏrmula | fŏrmulaê, fŏrmulas |
| gêniê (= Jêanniê) | gênìî, gênies, gínn (all j-; cf. gêniuses, plural of gênius[6]) |
| génus | génera (both j-) |
| gladiôlus | gladiôlî |
| goôse | gêese |
| hālf (*hāf) | hālves (*hāvz, cf. háves, plural of háve) |
| hêro | hêroes |
| hoôf | hoôves[7] |
| índéx | índéxes book, índícês mathematics |
| kibbùtz | kibbùtzìm |
| knîfe | knîves (both n-) |
| làrva | BrE làrvaê, AmE làrvas |
| lêaf | lêaves (= homonym lêaves leaving) |
| librétto | libréttì |
| liêd song (*lêet) | liêder (= lêader lead) |
| lîfe | lîves (cf. líves dwells) |
| lòuse | lîce |
| lôcus | lôcî (*lôassî) |
| lôaf | lôaves |
| mán | mén |
| mánservant | ménservants |
| mêdium | mêdia, mêdiums[8] |
| mòuse | mîce |
| nébula | nébulaê, nébulas |
| nûclêus | nûclêî |
| ôvum | ôva eggs (= BrE ôver above, finished) |
| óx | óxen |
| pénny | pénce amount, pénnies coins |
| përson | pêople (pêep-) everyday, përsons formal |
| phenómenon | phenómena |
| pláteau (*plátô) | pláteaux (*plátôz; in both, the second syllable is stressed in AmE) |
| potâto | potâtoes |
| qùantum | qùanta |
| râdius | râdìî |
| scàrf | scàrves |
| schêma | schemàta[9] (both sk-) |
| sélf | sélves |
| séraph | séraphìm |
| shêaf | shêaves |
| stímulus | stímulî |
| BrE stràtum, AmE strâtum | BrE stràta, AmE strâta (= BrE strâighter) |
| sympôsium | sympôsia |
| tábleau (*táblô) | tábleaux (*táblôz) |
| témpo | témpì, témpos |
| tërminus | tërminî |
| thìêf | thìêves |
| thêsis | thêsês (-sêez) |
| BrE tomàto, AmE tomâto | BrE tomàtoes, AmE tomâtoes |
| toôth | têeth |
| torpêdo | torpêdoes |
| vërtebra | vërtebraê |
| vêto | vêtoes |
| vïrtuôso | vïrtuôsì (both -ûôss-) |
| vŏrtex | vŏrticês (-íssêez) |
| wîfe | wîves |
| wolf (= Woòlf person) | wolves (*wùlvz) |
| woman (wù-) | women (wí-) |
Notes
- ↑ This does not apply to proper nouns: Thére are thrêe Mãrys and tŵo Marìes ín the clāss shows the plurals of Mãry and Marìe respectively.
- ↑ In correct Latin usage, the -a plural can be used only when the word is used in the sense of the question to be asked, not the process of asking.
- ↑ Use of físhes.
- ↑ Less common are the feminine forms alùmna singular, alùmnae plural.
- ↑ The King James Bible uses the double plural form chérubims, but this is now obsolete.
- ↑ gênìî is used by some as the plural of gênius, but this usage is frowned on by others—which may even extend to its use as a plural of gênie. Though when gênius is used in its original, technical sense, a sort of guardian spirit in ancient Roman mythology, gênii is the correct plural. Other spellings: singular djínni/jínni/jínnee, plural djínn/jínn. Such spellings, closer to the original Arabic, are more often used when the meaning intended is closer to the original meanings in Arab folklore and Islamic theology, rather than wider folklore.
- ↑ roôfs can have a similar pronunciation, but not spelling; yoûth also is unvoiced in the singular but voiced in the plural.
- ↑ mêdia always when referring to newspapers etc., mêdiums for spiritualists.
- ↑ Less commonly, lemmàta can be plural of lémma.
- The accents show stress and pronunciation (see English spellings): A: sát, mâde, pàrk, cāst (cást/càst), åll, ãir; E: ére, êar, vèin, fërn; I: sít, mîne, skì, bïrd; O: sóng, môde, lòve, wörd, ŏr; OO: moôn, foòt; U: sún, mûse, fùll, pürr; W: neŵ, ẁant; Y: gým, mŷ, keỳ, mÿrrh.