English noun/Catalogs/English irregular nouns

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Template:English irregular nouns header

Template:English irregular nouns footerThe normal way to form a plural noun in English is to add -s. Words ending in -ŷ add -íes. But there are also many irregular nouns, with plural forms from Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew and other languages. (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 which always have -ôes in the plural are included in the table below; others are regular, having -ôs, while búffalo, càrgo, hâlo, mosquìto (-k-), mótto, nô, tornâdo, volcâno and zêro can be seen with both -ôs and -ôes.

Nouns in -us which always have -î in the plural are listed below, while cáctus, fôcus, fúngus, óctopus and sýllabus can have both -î and -uses.

Nouns 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 in -ndum, addéndum, referéndum and memorándum, change to -nda: addénda, referénda, memoránda.

Apart from vŏrtex, plural vŏrtices (-tíssêez), nouns in -ex and -íx (âpex, appéndix, cërvix, índex and mâtrix) have plurals in both -ícês and -íxes (-íxíz).

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.

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.

Table of irregular nouns

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 *bâssíz = 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
écho échôes (both ék-)
élf élves
embàrgo embàrgôes
errātum errāta
fôcus fôcuses or fôcî (*fôassî)
foòt fêet
fŏrmula fŏrmulaê, fŏrmulas
gênie 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[1]
kibbùtz kibbùtzìm
knîfe knîves (both n-)
làrva BrE làrvaê, AmE làrvê
lêaf lêaves (= lêaves leaving)
librétto libréttì
lîfe lîves (cf. líves dwells)
lòuse lîce
lôcus lôcî (*lôassî)
lôaf lôaves
mán mén
mêdium communication mêdia (with other meanings, mêdium is regular: mêdiums
mòuse mîce
nébula nébulaê, nébulas
  1. roôfs can have a similar pronunciation, but not spelling.