FOREIGN PLURALS

Foreign plurals often occur along with regular plurals. They are more common in
technical usage, whereas the s plural is the most natural in everyday language. Thus:
formulas (general)- formulae (in mathematics, linguistics, etc), antennas (general and in
electronics)- antennae (in biology).

Nouns from Latin ending in us

The foreign plural in most cases is i, as in stimulus- stimuli. Other nouns with i plural
only: locus, bacillus, alumnus. The plural of corpus is corpora or corpuses, and the plural
of genus is genera.

Nouns with onl the regular plural (-uses) include:

apparatus, bonus, campus, census, chorus, circus, minus, status, virus

Nouns with both plurals include:

focus- focuses
fungus- funguses
also: cactus, mucleus, terminus

Nouns from Latin ending in a

The foreign plural is ae as in alumna- alumnae. Other nouns with ae plural only
include: alga, larva.
Nouns with only regular plural (-as) include: area, arena, dilema, diploma, drama, era,
etc.
Nouns with both plurals include: antenna, formula, nebula

Nouns from Latin ending in um

The foreign plural is a, as in curriculum- curricula. Other nouns with the a plural only
include; addendum, bacterium, corrigendum, desideratum, erratum
Nouns with only the regular plural include: museum, premium, album
Nouns which are usually regular: forum, stadium.
Nouns with both plurals: aquarium, curriculum, maximum, medium, memorandum,
millenium, minimum, moratorium, podium, referendum, sprectrum, stratum, ultimatum

Nouns from Latin ending in ex, ix

The foreign plural is ices as in index- indices. However, index and appendix have both
regular and foreign plurals. The regular form indexes is used for reference to parts of a
book or other publication; the plural indices is largely used for indicators. Appendix has
either plural for reference to parts of a book; it is regular for parts of the body. Other
nouns that have both regular and foreign plurals are: apex, vortex, matrix. Only foreign
plural: codex.

Nouns from Greek ending in is

The foreign plural is es, as in singular basis, plural bases.
Other nouns which take this plural are eg:
analysis, axis, crisis, diagnosis, ellipsis, hypothesis, oasis, paralysis, thesis, synopsis
Metropolis has the regular plural: metropolises.

Nouns from Greek ending in on

The foreign plural is a, as in criterion- criteria, phenomenon- phenomena, both of which
regularly take the a plural. Nouns with only regular plurals: electron, neutron, proton;
mainly regular: ganglion; both plurals: automaton.

Nouns from French: bureau,corps, etc.

A few nouns ending in eau and eu, eg: bureau and adieu, may retain the French x as
the spelling of the plural (bureaux, adieux), beside the commoner s (bureaus, adieus). In
English, the plurals are however almost always pronounced as regular, ie, irrespective of
spelling. Similarly: tableau, plateau.

Nouns from Italian ending in o

The foreign plural is i as in tempo-tempi; only regular plural: solo, soprano; both
regular and irregular plural: libretto, tempo, virtuoso.

Nouns from Hebrew: kibbuts- kibbutzim

The foreign plural is im , as in kibbutz- kibbutzim beside the regular kibbutzes. Usually
regular: cherub, seraph.