English noun/Catalogs/English irregular nouns: Difference between revisions
imported>Ro Thorpe No edit summary |
imported>Ro Thorpe mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{subpages}}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''' replace this ending with -'''íes'''.<ref>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.</ref> But there are also many '''irregular nouns''', some with English roots, others with plural forms from Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Hebrew. (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 [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]. Words in | {{subpages}}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''' replace this ending with -'''íes'''.<ref>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.</ref> But there are also many '''irregular nouns''', some with English roots, others with plural forms from Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Hebrew. (''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 [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]. Words in italics suggest meaning, and an equals sign is placed between [[homophones]].'') | ||
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 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'''. | ||
Revision as of 15:00, 10 March 2011
| This is a cluster with an incorrect pagename field in the metadata. Details: | |
|---|---|
|
Template:English irregular nouns footerThe 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 replace this ending with -íes.[1] But there are also many irregular nouns, some with English roots, others with plural forms from Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Hebrew. (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. Words in italics suggest meaning, and an equals sign is placed between homophones.)
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.
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, 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).
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),[2] 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
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 amoêba, AmE amêba | BrE amoêbaê, amoêbas, AmE amêbê, amêbas |
| anténna | BrE anténnaê, AmE anténnê, both 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 |
| chîld | chíldren |
| cŏrpus | cŏrpora |
| critêrion | critêria (both -î-) |
| currículum | currícula, currículums |
| dâtum, dàtum | BrE dâta, AmE dáta |
| díctum | dícta, díctums |
| écho | échôes (both ék-) |
| élf | élves |
| embàrgo | embàrgôes |
| errātum | errāta |
| fôcus | fôcuses, fôcî (*fôassî) |
| foòt | fêet |
| fŏrmula | fŏrmulaê, fŏrmulas |
| gêniê (= Jêanniê) | gênìî, gênies (all j-; cf. gêniuses, plural of gênius[3]) |
| génus | génera (both j-) |
| gladiôlus | gladiôlî |
| goôse | gêese |
| hālf (*hāf) | hālves (*hāvz, cf. háves, plural of háve) |
| hêro | hêrôes |
| hoôf | hoôves[4] |
| índéx | índéxes book, índícês mathematics |
| kibbùtz | kibbùtzìm |
| knîfe | knîves (both n-) |
| làrva | BrE làrvaê, AmE làrvê |
| 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 | vêtôes |
| 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.
- ↑ Use of físhes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ roôfs can have a similar pronunciation, but not spelling; yoûth also is unvoiced in the singular but voiced in the plural.