Plural of Crisis

The Quick Answer

The plural of crisis is crises.

The Plural of Crisis

The plural of crisis is crises.

Crises are abrupt negative changes in security, economic, political, or environmental affairs.
Natural crises such as tsunamis or volcanoes are inherently unpredictable.

The noun crisis has a Greek root, which is the derivation of the plural crises. There is no alternative English plural form. The noun crisis 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	box dress	add es	boxes dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	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	donkey chimney	add s	donkeys chimneys
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf hoof	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs hooves or hoofs
Nouns ending is	crisis thesis	change the is to es	crises theses
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
Foreign rulings	fungus medium	some nouns adopt foreign rulings	fungi media

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Crisis?

Crises is the only way to make the noun crisis plural.

Confusion arises because some mistakenly believe that all nouns ending in s should form a plural that adds es to the end of the word. When a noun ends with is, you need to replace the is with an es to form the plural. This is because its plural form derives from Greek.

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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