What Is the Plural of Dice?
The Quick Answer
"Dice" is the plural form of "die." In modern standard English, "dice" is slowly becoming the accepted singular and plural form.If you want to play it safe:
Use dice if you are rolling two or more game pieces.
Use die, if you are only using one piece.
- It's a roll of the dice in the movie business.
- I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world.
Are You Good at Plurals?
Here's a quick test.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 | cat scythe |
add s | cats scythes |
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z | bus dress |
add es | buses dresses |
Nouns ending [consonant] o | mango zero tomato |
add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.) |
mangoes or mangos 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 |
Mass nouns | rice flour |
some nouns do not have a plural form |
rice flour |
Nouns ending f or fe | dwarf knife |
ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.) |
dwarfs knives |
Exceptions | goose louse |
some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change | geese lice |
More exceptions | die sheep |
some nouns do not change at all | dice sheep |
Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Dice?
Confusion arises because people refer to "dice" in pairs so often that they don't realize it has a separate singular form.You might also like...
Unusual pluralsPlural forming table
Quirks with forming plurals
Forming the plurals of abbreviations
Forming the plurals of compound nouns
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