Irregular Plurals

The general rule for forming plurals of countable nouns is to add -s or -es (eg, pianopianos,
lenslenses, boxboxes, tomatotomatoes), or changing -y to -ies (eg, studystudies). However,
there are many exceptions, some of which are shown below (the first version of an alternative is the
preferred one in formal or technical usage). Please consult a good dictionary for more examples or
to check particular words. If you have any questions or require language or publishing support,
please email global@edanzgroup.com.

Guideline Singular Plural

Some words can end in -s
or -es
Same form for both
(collective nouns may be
plural in UK usage)
banjo, cargo, flamingo, fresco, -s or -es
ghetto, halo, mango,
memento, motto, tornado,
tuxedo, volcano
sheep, deer, shrimp, squid, sheep, deer, shrimp, squid, species,
species, series , corps, aircraft series, corps, aircraft
faeces (UK)/feces (US) faeces/feces
offspring offspring/offsprings
phlox phlox/phloxes
pox pox/poxes

group, class, band, faculty, UK: treated as plural words if

Some words double the
final consonant
Change in the final
consonant
staff, committee, couple, individual members are being
family, government, audience talked/written about
quiz quizzes
plus pluses/plusses
bus buses/busses (especially in
computing)
knife, life, leaf, loaf, wolf, shelf, knives, lives, leaves, loaves, wolves,
half shelves, halves

elf elves/elfs
hoof hooves/hoofs
Special endings ox oxen
child children
Change in vowel man, woman men, women
foot, tooth, goose feet, teeth, geese
Large change in word mouse mice
louse lice
brother brethren/brothers
person people/persons
die (or dice, informal) dice
penny pence/pennies
Some Latin words ending fundus, bacillus, stimulus, fundi, bacilli, stimuli, humeri, nuclei
in -us humerus, nucleus
focus foci/focuses
fungus fungi/funguses
syllabus syllabi/syllabuses
cactus cacti/cactuses

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 opus (opera for musical drama) opera/opuses (operas)
genus genera/genuses
radius radii/radiuses
terminus termini/terminuses
stylus styli/styluses
thesaurus thesauri/thesauruses
alumnus alumni (or alumnae if all female)
corpus corpora
viscus viscera
Some Latin words ending stratum, erratum, ilium, ileum, strata, errata, ilia, ilea, ova, bacteria,
in -um ovum, bacterium, mycelium mycelia

memorandum memoranda/memorandums
curriculum curricula/curriculums
minimum minima/minimums
maximum maxima/maximums
optimum optima/optimums
referendum referenda/referendums
forum fora/forums
stadium stadia/stadiums
aquarium aquaria/aquariums
millennium millennia/millenniums
moratorium moratoria/moratoriums
gymnasium gymnasia/gymnasiums
cranium crania/craniums
equilibrium equilibria/equilibriums
rostrum rostra/rostrums
rectum rectums/recta
podium podiums/podia
Some Latin words ending alga, larva, sequela, bulla algae, larvae, sequelae, bullae
in -a
melisma melismata
vertebra vertebrae/vertebras
antenna antennae/antennas
formula formulae/formulas
tibia tibiae/tibias
fibula fibulae/fibulas
ulna ulnae/ulnas
patella patellae/patellas
pleura pleurae/pleuras
serum sera/serums
amoeba (US: ameba) amoebae/amoebas
(amebae/amebas)
lymphoma lymphomas/lymphomata
adenoma adenomas/adenomata
myeloma myelomas/myelomata
myoma myomas/myomata
Some Latin words medium media/mediums (things in the
depending on sense middle)
media (especially mass media) media/medias (specialized usage:
types/members of mass media,
types of new/social media)
media (in anatomy) mediae

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Some words ending in -is
datum (or data, singular mass
noun; depends on style)
agendum (or agenda)
thesis, hypothesis, axis, crisis,
testis, parenthesis, analysis,
oasis, diagnosis, ellipsis,
synopsis, neurosis, synthesis
data
agenda/aggendums (or aggendas)
theses, hypotheses, axes, crises,
testes, parentheses, analyses, oases,
diagnoses, ellipses, synopses,
neuroses, syntheses

iris irides (medical)/irises (“iris” is

sometimes used as the plural for the
flower/plant)
Some Greek-origin words criterion, mitochondrion criteria, mitochondria

stroma stromata
meninx meninges
phenomenon phenomena (phenomenons,
non-scientific sense, special
things/people)
stigma stigmata/stigmas
stoma stomata/stomas
schema schemata/schemas
lemma lemmata/lemmas
dogma dogmata/dogmas
phalanx phalanges (medical)/phalanxes
coccyx coccyges/coccyxes
Some words ending in -ix index indices (especially mathematical
and -ex-ices sense)/indexes
appendix appendices/appendixes
matrix matrices/matrixes
vortex vortices/vortexes
vertex vertices (especially geometric
sense)/vertexes
codex codices/codexes
apex apices/apexes
Some European words chateau chateaux/chateaus
virtuoso virtuosi/virtuosos
plateau plateaux/plateaus
bureau bureaux/bureaus
cello celli/cellos
concerto concerti/concertos
paparazzo (also: paparazzi) paparazzi

Notes:
 Some countable words exist only in the plural and are treated as plural terms (scissors, shears, tweezers, pliers,
glasses and spectacles [to improve eyesight], scales [for weighing], stairs, trousers, jeans, thanks, congratulations,
manners [being polite], riches, savings [eg, in bank], proceeds [money received], goods [valuable items,
merchandise], arms [weaponry])
 Some plural forms are used as singular terms only (news, sports such as athletics, darts, gymnastics, billiards;
subjects such as Physics, Linguistics, Mathematics; diseases such as measles; countries such as the United States)
 Some singular words are used as plural terms only (people, the police)
 Some words change meaning in the plural, going from noncountable mass nouns to countable nouns
(clothclothes, coffeecoffees)
 Plural quantities and plural titles of books and other works are treated as singular (5 mm of rainfall was recorded,
$10 was given, “Star Wars” was interesting)

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