extratone/irregular.md

## irregular.md

      
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              irregular.md
            
          
    The table below lists English words that have irregular plurals.
Rules

Not included are words that follow any of the following rules:

Words that add -s, which are regular plurals
Words that end in -ch, -o, -s, -sh, -x, -z
Symbols or letters, which often add -'s
Words that are invariant in the plural (eg,
deer, series)
Words from Latin that end in -a change -a to -ae (eg,
formula becomes
formulae in the mathematical and chemical
senses)
Words from Latin that end in -ex change -ex to -ices (eg,
vortex becomes
vortices)
Words that end in -f or -fe change -f or -fe to -ves
(eg, calf becomes
calves; knife
becomes knives)
Words that end in -ful that add an s after the -ful (eg,
spoonful becomes
spoonfuls; note that
spoonsful is incorrect)
Words from Latin that end in -is change -is to -es (eg,
thesis becomes
theses)
Words from Latin that end in -ix change -ix to -ices (eg,
matrix becomes
matrices)
Words from Greek that end in -ma change -ma to -mata (eg,
stigma becomes
stigmata in all senses but the sense of
"disgrace")
Words from Latin that end in -nx change -nx to -nges (eg,
meninx becomes
meninges)
Words from Greek that end in -on change -on to -a (eg,
polyhedron becomes
polyhedra)
Words that end in -s or -ese denoting a national of a particular
country (eg, Swiss and
Chinese)
Words from French that end in -u add an x (eg,
château becomes
châteaux)
Words from Latin that end in -um change -um to -a (eg,
minimum becomes
minima)
Words from Latin that end in -us change -us to -i or -era
(eg, radius becomes
radii; genus becomes
genera; but note
octopus is different)
Words that end in -y preceded by a consonant change -y to -ies
(eg, baby becomes
babies)
Words from Hebrew that add -im or -ot (eg,
cherub becomes
cherubim)

Source: Wikipedia article on English
plurals, which you can see for much more
information.
Some of words of foreign origin that have the endings above can form
or always form their plurals regularly. The list above should therefore
be considered as a guide only. See particular words to determine their
plurals.
Umlaut

{{also|w:English plural#Umlaut plurals|w:Germanic umlaut}}

The following plurals exhibit umlaut,
meaning that they are inflected by changing the vowel, as in man/men.
These stem from the stem vowel being mutated due to a following /i/
contained in Germanic consonant stem plurals that later vanished.
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">

<tr>

<th align="Center">

Singular
</th>

<th align="Center">

Plural
</th>

<th align="Center">

Notes
</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

foot
</td>

<td align="Center">

feet
</td>

<td align="Left">

The plural foot is used colloquially in the sense of the unit of
distance
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

goose
</td>

<td align="Center">

geese
</td>

<td align="Left">

The plural of mongoose is
mongooses
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

louse
</td>

<td align="Center">

lice
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for the names of animals ending in -louse, such as
woodlouse, which becomes woodlice
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

man
</td>

<td align="Center">

men
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for nouns ending in -man in the sense of a particular type of
man, such as postman or Frenchman; words ending in -man that
have another origin are regular (eg, ataman
becomes atamans;
shaman becomes
shamans)
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

mouse
</td>

<td align="Center">

mice
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also applies to the names of other animals that end in -mouse, such
as dormouse and
titmouse, which become
dormice and titmice
respectively; the plural mouses is sometimes
used for the computer peripheral
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

tooth
</td>

<td align="Center">

teeth
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for nouns ending in -tooth, such as
eyetooth, which becomes
eyeteeth
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

woman
</td>

<td align="Center">

women
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for nouns ending in -woman in the sense of a particular type of
woman, such as policewoman or
Englishwoman
</td>

</tr>

</table>

Weak noun [weak_noun]

{{also|w:Old English declension#Weak nouns}}

The following plurals are relics of Old English weak
noun inflection, where
the plural was formed by suffixing -an/-ena/-um, depending on case,
which yields the {{m|en|-en}}{=mediawiki} ending.
“oxen” is ox-en, while “children” is in fact a double plural:
“cild-ru-en”, where -ru is a strong noun plural, and -en is a weak noun
plural.
{{m|en|boxen}}

and {{m|en|Vaxen}}{=mediawiki} are humorous computing slang formed by
the same rule.
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">

<tr>

<th align="Center">

Singular
</th>

<th align="Center">

Plural
</th>

<th align="Center">

Notes
</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

child
</td>

<td align="Center">

children
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for nouns ending in -child in the sense of a particular type of
child, such as schoolchild
</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

ox
</td>

<td align="Center">

oxen
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also applies to the names of other animals that end in ox, such as
musk-ox
</td>

</tr>

</table>

Suppletive

A suppletive plural is a plural whose root is
different from the root of the singular, i.e., not from the same
underlying word.
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">

<tr>

<th align="Center">

Singular
</th>

<th align="Center">

Plural
</th>

<th align="Center">

Notes
</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

person
</td>

<td align="Center">

people
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for nouns ending in -person, such as chairperson, which
becomes chairpeople. In formal contexts, the plural is
persons (and similarly for nouns ending in
-person); people is also a singular noun in the sense of a
community of people
</td>

</tr>

</table>

Devoiced regular plural endings [devoiced_regular_plural_endings]

“pence” is a contraction of “pennies”, collective plural of “penny”.
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">

<tr>

<th align="Center">

Singular
</th>

<th align="Center">

Plural
</th>

<th align="Center">

Notes
</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

die
</td>

<td align="Center">

dice
</td>

<td align="Left">

in the sense of a numbered cube used in games.
</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="Center">

penny
</td>

<td align="Center">

pence
</td>

<td align="Left">

Also for multiples of a penny, such as sixpence. Pence, a
British usage, is used only the sense of an amount of money; in the
sense of a number of coins worth a penny each, the plural is
pennies
</td>

</table>

See also [see_also]

{{wikipedia|English plural}}


English plural: Irregular
plurals
Wikipedia article on
hypercorrection – includes
information on some incorrectly formed plurals

nouns plural irregular