Plural of Dye

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

The plural of dye is dyes.

The Plural of Dye

The plural of dye is dyes.

The majority of natural dyes are from plant sources.
Both dyes and pigments are colored because they absorb some wavelengths of light more than others.

The noun dye adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below).

Are You Good at Plurals?

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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	dye scythe	add s	dyes 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
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 Dye?

There is confusion because inexperienced writers often feel compelled to add an apostrophe when a noun ends with a vowel (e.g., piano, tomato, emu). Adding 's is never an option when forming the plural of a noun.

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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