Plural of Mosquito

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The Quick Answer
The plural of mosquito is mosquitoes or mosquitos.

The Plural of Mosquito

The plural of mosquito is mosquitos or mosquitoes.
  • Some species of mosquitoes can develop from egg to adult in as few as five days.
  • Mosquitos can be found in every land region except for Antarctica.
The noun mosquito adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below).

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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.
Type Example of Type Forming the Plural Plural
Most Nouns lamp
scythe		 add s lamps
scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z bus
dress		 add es buses
dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o mosquito
zero
tomato		 add either s or es
(There are no rules for this - you have to know.)		 mosquitos or mosquitoes
zeros
tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o patio
ratio 		add s patios
ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y story
penny		 change the y to an i and add es stories
pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y storey ()
donkey 		add s storeys
donkeys
Nouns ending f or fe dwarf
knife 		ves and/or s
(There are no rules - you have to know.)		 dwarfs
knives
Exceptions man
louse 		some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change men
lice
More exceptions salmon
sheep 		some nouns do not change at all salmon
sheep

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Mosquito?

There is confusion because the rule for forming plurals with nouns ending in o isn't straightforward. Most nouns will just add an s. For example:
  • Tattoo becomes tattoos.
  • Video becomes videos.
Some add es. For example:
  • Hero becomes heroes.
  • Potato becomes potatoes.
With some words, both versions are accepted. For example:
  • Volcano becomes volcanoes or volcanos.
  • Echo becomes echoes or echos.
The plural of mosquito can be either mosquitos or mosquitoes. Unfortunately, there is no clever way of knowing which nouns ending o follow which rules. You have to know. (For example, you have to know that solo becomes solos, but tomatos becomes tomatoes.)

Though mosquitos and mosquitoes are both accepted plurals, mosquitoes is the more common of the two. (See the difference in Google's Ngram Viewer.)
Beware

Don't Use an Apostrophe to Form a Plural

Adding 's is never an option when forming the plural of a noun. Despite this simple rule, inexperienced writers often feel compelled to add an apostrophe, especially when the noun ends with a vowel (e.g., piano, tomato, emu). For example:
  • Flamingo's live in flocks.
  • Flamingos live in flocks.
Read more about apostrophes and plurals.
Read more about using apostrophes.
Another Interactive Exercise
Here are three randomly selected questions from another exercise on plurals, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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See Also

Unusual pluralsPlural forming table Quirks with forming plurals Forming the plurals of abbreviations Forming the plurals of compound nouns