Plural of Mongoose

by Craig Shrives

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.

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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 it should have the same ruling as the plural of goose.

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

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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