Irregular Plurals in English

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List of Irregular Plurals in English

The rules for forming plurals in English are complicated, and there are many irregular plurals. Here is a list of the most common irregular plurals. (These are the ones that cause the most problems for native English speakers and learners.)

A

• agenda
(This was a plural word. It is now a singular word with the plural agendas.)
• analysis
• axis
• air
• aircraft
• antenna
• amoeba

B

• baby
• bus
• basis
• buffalo
• belief
• belly
• beef
• bias
• blood
• brief

C

• cactus
• cello
• census
• chief
• calf
• child
• cliff
• crisis
• criteria
(This is a plural word. The singular is criterion.)
• curriculum

D

• data
(This is the Latin plural of "datum." However, many treat data as a singular word nowadays.)
• diagnosis
• dice
• dictionary
• dwarf
• deer
• do and don't
(There are several ways to write this term as a plural.)
• donkey
• doe
• domino
• dragonfly
• dye

E

• elf
• echo
• eclipse
• emoji
• emphasis
• emu
• embargo
• energy
• era
• euro
• ewe

F

• fish
• formula
• fetus
• foot
• flamingo
• fungus
• furnace

G

• goose
• glass
• glasses
• giraffe

H

• hypothesis
• hoof
• hair
• half
• hero
• halo
• hippopotamus

I

• information
• igloo

J

• jellyfish
• journey
• jury

K

• knife
• key
• kangaroo
• kiwi

L

• leaf
• life
• loaf
• louse
• larva
• lily
• lotus

M

• media
• moose
• mongoose
• money
• mango
• man
• mouse
• Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss
(This page covers the plurals of these honorifics.)
• mummy
• music

N

• nebula
• news
(News is treated as a singular word.)
• nemesis
• nucleus
• navy

O

• octopus
• ox
• oasis
• offspring

P

• platypus
• potato
• person
• parenthesis

Q

• quay

R

• radius
• reef
• referendum
• rhinoceros
• rice
• roof

S

• scissors
• sheep
• safe
• scarf
• salmon
• shelf
• sunday
• stimulus
• status
• sugar
• syllabus

T

• tortoise
• tomato
• tooth
• thesis
• thief
• turkey
• trout

U

• umbrella

V

• valley
• virus
• volcano

W

• woman
• wolf
• wife
• whiskey

X

Y

• yes and no
(There are several ways to write this term as a plural.)
• Yeti

Z

• zoo
• zucchini