English noun/Catalogs/English irregular nouns

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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. 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: bárracks, cód, cróssroads, dêer animal (= dêar loved, expensive), dîce, físh (dîe as the singular of dîce and físhes as the plural of físh are archaic), gállows, hálibut, héadquarters, mêans, óffspring, përch fish (përch position has përches), pîke, sálmon (*sámmon), sêries, shêep, spêcies (-shíz), tròut and tûna.

In the case of bròther, there exist plurals with different meanings, one regular, the other irregular, so that only one of the forms is correct in a given context: bròthers family, bréthren church. Also, anténn(a)e tends to be used in the context of insects, anténnas in that of radio.

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.

Singular	Plural
bactêrium	bactêria
chîld	chíldren
goôse	gêese
lôaf	lôaves
nûclêus	nûclêî
phenómenon	phenómena
vŏrtex	vŏrticês (-íssêez)

Comprehensive list

Singular Plural 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 (both j-; cf. gêniuses, plural of gênius) génus génera (both j-) gladiôlus gladiôlî goôse gêese hālf (*hāf) hālves (*hāvz, cf. háves, plural of háve) hêro hêrôes hoôf hoôves 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, pénnies përson pêople (pêp-), përsons (the latter is more 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 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