Plural

How to spell plural

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce plural

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does plural mean?

1. adjectiveReferring to or denoting more than one person or thing.
2. nounA word form that denotes more than one person or thing.

Plural in a sentence

• adjective

  The teacher explained that "mice" is the plural form of "mouse".

• noun

  The plural of "child" is "children".

• adjective

  Most plural nouns in English simply add an s.

• noun

  Some words have the same spelling in the singular and the plural.

Where does plural come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin pluralis, meaning 'consisting of more than one' or 'of many', which was formed from plus (genitive pluris) meaning 'more'. English borrowed it through Old French as plurel during the 1300s, originally as a grammatical term used by scholars describing the forms of nouns and verbs that referred to more than one thing. The same plus root that lies behind plural also gives us 'plus' itself and 'surplus', the idea of something extra or additional. Over time the spelling settled with the Latin -al ending rather than the older French -el, which is why we now write plural with that single l before the suffix. The familiar trap is that the word ends in a single -ral, not a doubled consonant, even though it sounds compact.

How the word is built

• plur- (from Latin plus, pluris: more)
• -al (adjective suffix)