Plural form of octopus

How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles. (Photo: Mana Photo/Shutterstock) More than meets the 'i' It's worth noting that octopus is a Latinized Greek word, although it comes to English via New Latin, aka scientific Latin, not the language of ancient Rome. The first known use of the word was in 1758. It's also worth noting that English uses lots of words from Latin and from newer languages, often without preserving their original plurals. In Latin, for example, the correct plural of " circi. So even if octopus was a true Latin word, we'd be under no obligation in 2015 to say octopi. Most dictionaries include the Anglicized plurals "focuses" and "terminuses" as alternatives to foci and termini, and many also now allow octopi as a secondary plural in lieu of octopuses or octopodes. At least the octopus isn't alone in this linguistic ambiguity. The rhinoceros, hippopotamus and platypus are all in the same boat, stuck with Latinized Greek names and disputed plurals. In Greek, rhinokeros means "nose-horned," hippopotamos means "river horse" and platypous means "flat-footed." Their preferred English plurals are rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses and platypuses, but Merriam-Webster dictionary also lists alternative -i plural forms for all three.

Is it octopi or octopuses? That confusion ends now. We’ll dig into why octopuses is the correct plural of octopus. Does it sound weird? Sure. Are you slightly afraid to say it in polite company? Probably. But that doesn’t make it any less correct. We’ll also explain why the two irregular plurals for my favorite Main Octopus Plural Takeaways: • The correct plural of octopus is octopuses. • Irregular octopus plurals include octopi and octopodes. These may be acceptable in some dictionaries, but octopuses is always correct. • Octopi follows Latin rules for making words plural but octopodes follows Greek pluralization rules. • This is because octopus is actually a Latinized Greek word, which accounts for octopus plural confusion. Octopuses may be correct, but it sounds weird. I’m going to say octopodes instead. The word is Greek anyway, Octopi, octopuses, and octopodes are all acceptable plural forms of the word octopus. What is the Correct Plural of Octopus? The correct plural of octopus is octopuses. Although this word has ancient Latin and Greek roots, it’s an English word that follows normal English pluralization rules for words ending in “ s.” There are technically three octopus plurals: octopi, octopodes, and octopuses. The first two come from Latin and Greek respectively, both of which are tied to the origins of the word octopus. The last option, octopuses, is the preferred pluralization in English. So, can you say octopuses or is that even a word? Yes, and yes. That’s ...

It’s the internet’s favorite eight-armed plural debate: octopuses vs. octopi. (And that relative newcomer, octopodes.) Is there a “correct” plural for octopus? And what’s with the -i in octopi? In this article, we’ll wrap our tentacles around these questions, break down the differences between each term, and tell you which terms are acceptable and most commonly used. ⚡ Quick summary Both octopuses and octopi are acceptable plurals for octopus. Of the two, octopuses is the simpler and more commonly used. The proposed plural octopodes is based on the plural of the Ancient Greek word from which octopus ultimately derives. But it’s rarely used outside of the octopuses vs. octopi debate. Is it octopuses or octopi? Like the octopus itself, the English language is, in many cases, very flexible: both octopuses and octopi are acceptable and commonly used plural forms of octopus (despite what anyone on the internet may say). But why octopi? Well, in Latin, there’s a class of words that end in -us. These words get pluralized by replacing -us with -i. Many English words with strong roots in Latin have retained this pluralization pattern—think alumnus/alumni and stimulus/stimuli. Along with octopus, there are a few cases in which both endings are used, including: platypuses/platypi; cactuses/cacti; syllabuses/syllabi; and thesauruses/thesauri (though, if you ask us, a plural is unnecessary here since you really only need one Still, in all these cases, it’s more common to pluralize with...

Octopuses have arms for days, three hearts, and a penchant for using tools to eat delicious sea meats. They shoot out ink, and they reportedly have more neurons in their arms than in their squishy heads. All of these amazing traits, but for some reason, the most enduring debate about these wet spiders is what they’re called in plural, octopuses or octopi. General Pluralization Rules for Words Ending in “S” When you first learn English, the general rule to create a plural is to add an “s” to the end of the word. And then you realized that not all plural nouns are that simple. Some words change entirely ( goose becomes geese), while other words, like those that end in “s,” require a little extra. The general rule for pluralizing words ending in “s” is to add -es. For example: • Walrus - Walrus es • Bus - Bus es • Abacus - Abacus es • Abyss - Abyss es • Mass - Mass es That’s how you get from octopus to octopuses. Octopuses is a perfectly valid plural form of octopus, and for some people, it’s the preferred plural form. Both the AP Stylebook and Guardian style guide prefer octopuses. However, other people insist on octopi as the plural form. Here’s why. Although it technically came from Greek, octopus is considered to originate from Latin. Many linguists and general word nerds believe that words with a Latin root should have a Latin ending, thus octopus becomes octopi (äk-​tə-​ˌpī). You can see a similar thing in: • Cactus - Cact i • Syllabus - Syllab i • Hippopotamus - Hippop...

What to Know The three plurals for octopus come from the different ways the English language adopts plurals. Octopi is the oldest plural of octopus, coming from the belief that words of Latin origin should have Latin endings. Octopuses was the next plural, giving the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. Lastly, octopodes stemmed from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending. There are many ways that English manages to trip up its speakers, both native and non-native. One of the most effective of these is a method of Our language takes words from a wide variety of sources; generally when a noun enters into English it is pluralized as an English word, rather than in its native form. However, sometimes words will come into English and keep an ending from their original language, particularly if that original language is Latin. Thus, the plural of bacterium is bacteria, rather than bacteriums. And just to keep people on their toes, certain words of Latin extraction may be pluralized with either English or Latin endings: multiple stadium may be either stadia or stadiums. Rule of thumb: if English gets the opportunity to trip you up, it will. The current champion in the Battle of Troublesome Pluralization is octopus, which, depending on which dictionary is consulted, may be written in three different ways: octopi, octopuses, and octopodes. Such a range of options might prompt even the most patient learner of t...

What has eight arms, three hearts, The octopus! The English language can be quite puzzling at times. As a mother of two boys, we have LEGO tiles all over the house. And while there are hundreds of LEGO on the floor that I have to tiptoe around, please notice the plural of LEGO is still LEGO. Confusing? Yes, it certainly is. Which brings me to today’s blog topic: What is the plural of octopus? How would you tell your friends that your saw a video that featured To get us started, let’s take a look at the word: octopus. It is a Latinized form of the Greek word októpus, which translates to “eight foot.” Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails. Disclaimer: Before I dive in, I will acknowledge that people have very strong opinions about grammar: Oxford comma usage as one such example. So, please go easy on the author of this blog. Octopi ❌ While “octopi” has become popular in modern usage, it’s wrong. Octopi is the oldest plural form of octopus, coming from the belief that Latin origins should have Latin endings. However, octopus is not a simple Latin word, but a Latinized form of the Greek word októpus. Consequently, its “correct” plural form would logically be octopodes. Octopodes ❌ “Octopodes” stems from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending. This term might be technically correct, but it is the least-used incorrect form of the word for more than one octopus. Using “octopodes” might cause more confusion than it’s worth. ...

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