Plural of Referendum

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The Plural of Referendum

The plural of referendum is referendums. The Latin plural referenda is now considered defunct or pretentious.

• Referendums give the public unmediated and direct control over a policy.
• Overusing referendums undermines parliamentary sovereignty.

The noun referendum has a Latin root, which is the derivation of the now defunct plural referenda. Referendums (which adheres to the standard rules for forming plurals) is by far the more common version.

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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 referendum	add s	lamps referendums
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	fetus dress	add es	fetuses 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	story penny	change the y to an i and add es	stories pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	donkey chimney	add s	donkeys chimneys
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
Foreign rulings	fetus medium referendum	some nouns adopt foreign rulings	feti media referenda (now defunct)

Read more about English spelling rules.

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Referendum?

Confusion arises over the plural of referendum because writers are unsure whether to opt for referenda, which derives from the Latin root of referendum, or referendums, which adheres to the standard ruling for forming plurals.

In the past, both referendums and referenda were acceptable, but referenda has fallen out of use to the extent that many now consider it wrong or pretentious.

This graph from Google's Ngram viewer shows the recent decline of referenda. Note that the Ngram viewer scans the texts of published authors and academics. This is an important point because it tells us that those who consider such matters are now dropping referenda.

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