English plural

Ablaut plurals
The plural is sometimes formed by simply changing the vowel sound of the singular, in a
process called ablaut (these are sometimes called mutated plurals):

foot feet
goose geese
louse lice
man men
mouse mice
tooth teeth
woman women

Irregular plurals from Latin and Greek

alumna alumnae
formula formulae/formulas
encyclopedia (rarely encyclopædia) encyclopedias (encyclopediae is rare)

• Final ex or ix becomes -ices (pronounced /ɨsiːz/), or just adds -es:

index indices /ˈɪndɨsiːz/ or indexes

matrix matrices /ˈmeɪtrɨsiːz/
vertex vertices /ˈvɜrtɨsiːz/
• Final is becomes es (pronounced /iːz/):

axis axes /ˈæksiːz/

crisis crises /ˈkraɪsiːz/
testis testes /ˈtɛstiːz/

Note that axes, the plural of axis, is pronounced differently from axes (/ˈæksɨz/), the plural of
ax(e).

• Final ies remains unchanged:

 series series
species species
• Final on becomes -a:

automaton automata
criterion criteria
phenomenon phenomena (more below)
polyhedron polyhedra
• Final um becomes -a, or just adds -s:

addendum addenda
agendum (obsolete, not listed in most agenda means a "list of items of business at a
dictionaries) meeting" and has the plural agendas
datum data
forum fora/forums
medium media (in communications and computers; now
often treated as a singular mass noun)/
mediums (spiritualists, or items of medium size
etc.)
corrigendum corrigenda
memorandum memoranda/memorandums
millennium millennia
alumnus alumni
corpus corpora
census censuses
focus foci
genus genera
prospectuses (plural
prospectus
prospectus is rare)
radius radii
syllabus syllabi
viscus viscera
cactus cactuses/cacti (in Arizona many people avoid either
choice with cactus as both singular and plural.)
fungus fungi
hippopotamus hippopotamuses/hippopotami
octopus octopuses
platypus platypuses
terminus termini/terminuses

stigma stigmata/stigmas
stoma stomata/stomas
schema schemata/schemas
dogma dogmata/dogmas
 • Nouns from languages other than the above generally form plurals as if they were
native English words:

canoe canoes

igloo igloos
kangaroo kangaroos
kayak kayaks
kindergarten kindergartens
pizza pizzas
sauna saunas

Words better known in the plural

Original plural/
Original singular Common plural
common singular
agendum agenda9 agendas
alga algae algae
biscotto biscotti biscotti
candelabrum candelabra candelabras
datum10 data data (mass noun)
graffito graffiti graffiti (mass noun)
insigne insignia insignias
opus opera operas
panino panini paninis (currently gaining use)
criterion criteria
phenomenon phenomena
consortium consortia
symposium symposia

Plurals of compound nouns

able seaman able seamen
head banger head bangers
yellow-dog contract yellow-dog contracts
attorney general attorneys general
bill of attainder bills of attainder
court martial courts martial
fee simple absolute fees simple absolute
 governor-general governors-general
passerby passersby
ship of the line ships of the line
son-in-law sons-in-law
minister-president ministers-president
knight-errant knights-errant
procurator fiscal (in Scotland) procurators fiscal
man-child men-children
manservant menservants
woman doctor women doctors
city-state city-states
nurse-practitioner nurse-practitioners
scholar-poet scholar-poets
brigadier general brigadier generals
major general major generals
man-about-town men-about-town
man-of-war men-of-war
woman of the street women of the street
ham on rye hams on rye/ham-on-ryes
jack-in-the-box jacks-in-the-box/jack-in-the-boxes
jack-in-the-pulpit jacks-in-the-pulpit/jack-in-the-pulpits
head of state heads of states/heads of state
son of a bitch sons of bitches/sons-of-a-bitch
cat-o'-nine-tails cat-o'-nine-tails
jack-o'-lantern jack-o'-lanterns
will-o'-the-wisp will-o'-the-wisps

person persons people22

pig pigs swine
sow sows swine

Plurals of names of peoples

There are several different rules for this.

In discussing peoples whose demonym takes -man or -woman, there are three options:
pluralize to -men or -women if referring to individuals, and use the root alone if referring to
the whole nation, or add people.

Dutchman Dutchmen
the Dutch
Dutchwoman Dutchwomen
Englishman Englishmen
the English
Englishwoman Englishwomen
Frenchman Frenchmen the French
 Frenchwoman Frenchwomen
Irishman Irishmen
the Irish
Irishwoman Irishwomen
Scotsman Scotsmen
the Scots
Scotswoman Scotswomen
Welshman Welshmen
the Welsh
Welshwoman Welshwomen

One can say "a Scots(wo)man" or "a Scot", "Scots(wo)men", "Scottish people", or "Scots,"
and "the Scottish" or "the Scots". (Scotch is considered old fashioned.)

Several peoples have names that are simple nouns and can be pluralized by the addition of
either -s or -ish (the later case often calls for the elimination of terminal letters so the
pluralizing suffix can be connected directly with the last consonant of the root):

the Danes
Dane Danes
the Danish
the Finns
Finn Finns
the Finnish
the Spaniards
Spaniard Spaniards
the Spanish (much more common)
the Swedes
Swede Swedes
the Swedish