Plural of Dictionary

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The plural of dictionary is dictionaries.

The Plural of Dictionary

The plural of dictionary is dictionaries.
  • Spellings are made by people. Dictionaries - eventually - reflect popular choices.
  • People are under the impression that dictionaries legislate language. What a dictionary does is keep track of usages over time.
The noun dictionary 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 hero
zero
tomato		 add either s or es
(There are no rules for this - you have to know.)		 heroes
zeros
tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o patio
ratio 		add s patios
ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y dictionary
penny		 change the y to an i and add es dictionaries
pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y journey
donkey 		add s journeys
donkeys
Nouns ending f or fe dwarf
hoof 		ves and/or s
(There are no rules - you have to know.)		 dwarfs
hooves or hoofs
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 Dictionary?

Dictionaries is the only way to make the noun dictionary plural.

Confusion arises because people mistakenly believe that only an s needs to be added (like with donkeys). However, when a noun ends with [consonant] + y, you need to change the y to an i and add es to form the plural.

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