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Home Spelling Plurals of nouns

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Plurals of nouns

Most nouns make their plurals by simply

adding –s to the end (e.g. cat/cats, book/books,
journey/journeys). Some do change their
endings, though. The main types of noun that
Words that are older than you think
do this are:

Nouns ending in -y
If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y,
make the plural by changing -y to -ies:

13 foreign words that sound rude in

English
singular plural

berry berries
 activity activities
DICTIONARY daisy Type
daisiesword or phrase MENU

 
Unusual words with surprising
If the noun ends with -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z, add - meanings
es to form the plural:

singular plural

church churches

bus buses
12 synonyms for fool
fox foxes

Synonyms for Colours

  Auburn is a shade of which colour?

There’s one exception to this rule. If the -ch reddish-brown

ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add
-s rather than -es: gold

NEXT 0/10

singular plural

stomach stomachs

epoch epochs TRENDING WORDS

Most popular in the world

Nouns ending in -f or -fe 1. BF

2. translate
With nouns that end in a consonant or a single
3. dotard
vowel plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves:
4. English
5. pneumonoultramicroscopi
singular plural
csilicovolcanoconiosis

knife knives

half halves

scarf scarves Sign up for our newsletter

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 Nouns which end in two vowels plus -f usually Select your country
DICTIONARY form pluralsType
in the word
normalor phrase
way, with just an -s MENU
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singular plural

chief chiefs

spoof spoofs

Nouns ending in -o
Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in
the plural, and some can be spelled either way.

● As a general rule, most nouns ending in

-o add -s to make the plural:

singular plural

solo solos

zero zeros

avocado avocados

● Those which have a vowel before the

nal -o always just add -s:

singular plural

studio studios

zoo zoos

embryo embryos

● Here’s a list of the most common nouns

ending in -o that are always spelled with
-es in the plural:
 singular plural
DICTIONARY bu alo Type word or phrase
bu aloes MENU

domino dominoes

echo echoes

embargo embargoes

hero heroes

mosquito mosquitoes

potato potatoes

tomato tomatoes

torpedo torpedoes

veto vetoes

● Here are some of the common nouns

ending in -o that can be spelled with
either -s or -es in the plural:

singular plural

banjo banjos or banjoes

cargo cargos or cargoes

amingo amingos or amingoes

fresco frescos or frescoes

ghetto ghettos or ghettoes

halo halos or haloes

mango mangos or mangoes

memento mementos or mementoes

motto mottos or mottoes

tornado tornados or tornadoes

tuxedo tuxedos or tuxedoes

volcano volcanos or volcanoes

Plurals of foreign nouns

The plurals of words which have come into
English from a foreign language such as Latin
or Greek often have two possible spellings: the
 foreign plural spelling and an English one. For
Type
DICTIONARY example, you word
can spell theor phrase
plural of aquarium MENU
(from Latin) as either aquaria (the Latin plural)
or aquariums (the English plural).

Words of Latin origin

Here’s a list of some words that came into
English from Latin which can form their plurals
in two ways:

Word Latin plural English plural

antenna antennae antennas

appendix appendices appendixes

cactus cacti cactuses

curriculum curricula curriculums

formula formulae formulas

index indices indexes

millennium millennia millenniums

referendum referenda referendums

stadium stadia stadiums

terminus termini terminuses

thesaurus thesauri thesauruses

vortex vortices vortexes

Note that there are a few nouns which have

come into English from Latin which should
always form their plural in the Latin way. Most
of these are scienti c or technical terms. The
most common ones are:

singular plural

alga algae

alumnus alumni

larva larvae
  
DICTIONARY Type word or phrase MENU
Remember too, that the plural form of octopus
should always be octopuses and never octopi.
This is because the word came into English
from Greek, not Latin, and so the usual rules
for Latin plurals don't apply.

Words of Greek origin

Nouns which end in -is usually come from
Greek. Their plurals are made by changing the -
is to -es:

singular plural

crisis crises

analysis analyses

neurosis neuroses

Words of French origin

Certain words which have come into English
from French have two possible plural forms:
the original French plural and an English one.
These words end in the letters -eau, for
example:

Word French plural English plural

bureau bureaux bureaus

chateau chateaux chateaus

gateau gateaux gateaus

trousseau trousseaux trousseaus

Words of Italian origin

Most words which have come into English from
Italian form their plurals with an -s, as if they
were English words. For example, the Italian
plural of cappuccino is cappuccini, but when the
 word is used in English, its plural form is
DICTIONARY cappuccinos.Type word
Here are ormore
some phrase
examples: MENU

Italian
Word English plural
plural

espresso espressi espressos

pizza pizze pizzas

risotto risotti risottos

frescos or
fresco freschi
frescoes

A notable exception to this is the word

paparazzo, which keeps the Italian plural form
paparazzi in English.

There's also a group of Italian words which

have entered English in their plural forms –
these are typically the names for various kinds
of pasta. For example:

spaghetti; tagliatelle; tortellini;

cannelloni; lasagne.

Although these words are already in their

Italian plural forms, they can take an -s to form
English plurals in certain contexts. For
example:

They ordered three spaghettis and

two cannellonis.

Here, the meaning is ‘a dish or serving of

spaghetti’ rather than ‘a kind of pasta’.

Note that in British English, you should spell

lasagne with an e at the end. In American
English it's spelled with an -a at the end, i.e.
lasagna (which is the Italian singular form,
though this is rarely if ever used in Italian
itself).

Words that have come into English from

foreign languages are known as loanwords.
 Some of these loanwords have developed
Type word
DICTIONARY plural (or singular) orEnglish
forms in phrase that are MENU
regarded as grammatically incorrect because
they go against the grammar of the original
language.

Back to spelling.

You may also be interested in

Forming adverbs

Adding endings to words that end in -our

Adding endings to words that end in a double ‘l’

See more from Spelling

Further reading
 DICTIONARY Type word or phrase
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