English
typically forms a plural by
adding an 's'. But not all languages are the same, and English quite
happily borrows / is descended from many. This leads to several irregular
plurals, including
-
Adding 'en'
-
One ox, many oxen. But, one box, many boxes. As a joke, one Vax
(computer), many Vaxen
-
One child, many children (with baroque etymology)
-
changing the internal vowel
-
One mouse, many mice; one louse, many lice. But, one house, many
houses.
-
One foot, many feet. But, one boot, many boots.
-
One goose, many geese. (And some have suggested that the plural
of mongoose should be multigoose!)
-
One (wo)man, many (wo)men. As a joke in
science fiction
fandom: one fan,
many fen.
-
One sheep, many sheep.
-
from the Latin
-
One formula, many formulae
-
One radius, many radii
-
One appendix, many appendices; one matrix, many matrices
-
One phenomenon, many phenomena
-
One medium, many media; one
millennium
,
many millennia
-
from the Greek
-
One octopus, many octopodes (OED, if not Webster)
-
Some languages have three forms: singular, exactly two plural, more
than two plural. For example, One Inuk, two Inuuk, three or more Inuit.
This distinction occurs only rarely in English:
-
"between" two things versus "among" several
things
-
"each other" for two, "one another" for more