Plural of Mongoose

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The Quick Answer
The plural of mongoose is mongooses or mongeese.

The Plural of Mongoose

The plural of mongoose is mongooses or mongeese.
  • Mongooses live in southern Asia, Africa, and southern Europe.
  • Mongeese mostly feed on insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards, birds, and rodents.
    • (Mongeese is not a common plural but is cited as an alternative plural in many leading dictionaries.)

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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 mongoose
scythe		 add s mongooses
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 mongoose
louse 		some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change mongeese
lice
More exceptions salmon
sheep 		some nouns do not change at all salmon
sheep

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Mongoose?

Confusion arises over the plural of mongoose because many believe that mongeese (formed using the plural of goose) is an error.

Both mongooses and mongeese are acceptable. Of note, mongooses is by far the more common plural. (See the evidence in Google's Ngram Viewer.)
Another Interactive Exercise
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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