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 (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), 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), gállows, hálibut, 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 radio, BrE anténnaê, AmE anténnê insect

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	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 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-)
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)
génus	génera (both j-)
gladiôlus	gladiôlî
goôse	gêese
hālf (*hāf)	hālves (*hāvz, cf. háves, plural of háve)
hêro	hêroes
hoôf	hoôves
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
mêdium	mêdia, mêdiums
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 (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

• 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.