Irregular Plurals or Irregular Plural Noun List, based on the names itself, these are different from regular plural nouns. All the basic details along with the list are captured in this session so that it can be remembered easily. Let’s explore!
What are Irregular Plurals? Defintion
Basics of Irregular Plurals
Irregular plurals or irregular plural nouns, as the name suggests, are different from regular plural nouns. These plurals do not have any rules. We have already learned, adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ at the end of a singular noun to make it plural.
But what about if we consider man or deer or child and try to change into plural nouns?
Can we add ‘s’ or ‘es’ here?
Will these be changed like,
- a man to mans?
- or deer to deers?
- or child to childs?
No! These are not correct plurals in English.
In English Grammar, we say,
- Man to men
- Deer to deer
- Child to children
So, there are no rules here and these kinds of nouns are irregular plurals and we will learn more than 100 irregular plural nouns here.
Definition of Irregular Plural Nouns
The plural nouns which are not obeying any rules like regular plurals are called irregular plurals or irregular plural nouns. Sometimes, these are called unusual plurals, due to its unusual behavior.
Irregular plural nouns do not become plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’, or any other rules.
Examples of Irregular Plurals or Plural Nouns
There are thousands of irregular plural nouns in English Grammar. Let us take two examples,
- aircraft
- bison
In the case of aircraft or bison, plurals are aircraft and bison respectively instead of aircrafts or bisons. So, no change here.
Irregular plurals
How to Remember the Irregular Plural Nouns List?
So, it is very normal to ask that if there are no rules, how can we remember thousands of irregular plural nouns? It is simple, we have to practice. So, remember to,
- Read
- Write
- Speak
- Practice
We have captured more than 100 irregular plural nouns widely used in our daily life. I hope, we can learn the most important irregular plurals.
However, we have developed a few tricks as rules so that it will be easy to remember. Before going to the list, we will learn the rules.
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Rules of Irregular Plurals or Irregular Plural Nouns
Rule#1 There are few singular nouns, which is not change anything when it is changed into plural nouns.
| Singular | Plural | Remarks |
| deer | deer | When deer is changed into a plural noun, there will not be any change. |
| fish | fish | Same |
| series | series | Same |
| sheep | sheep | Same |
| species | species | Same |
| trout | trout | Same |
| tuna | tuna | Same |
Rule#2 There are few singular nouns, where many letters are changed or the entire letters are modified when it is to be made plural forms.
| Singular | Plural | Remarks |
| Plural noun of chick = | chicken | When chick is changed into plural, it doesn’t follow any rule. |
| Plural noun of child = | children | Same |
| Plural noun of die = | dice | Same |
| Plural noun of foot = | feet | Same |
| Plural noun of goose = | geese | Same |
| Plural noun of person = | people | Same |
| Plural noun of ox = | oxen | Same |
| Plural noun of Man = | Men | Same |
| Plural noun of mouse = | mice | Same |
| Plural noun of tooth = | teeth | Same |
Rule#3 Some nouns are always singular. They have no plural form.
In the case of many uncountable nouns, the singular form is used to refer to the entire quantity rather than one, two, or more countable items.
- flour
- gold
- silver
- sugar
- water
Rule#4 Some nouns have no singular form. These nouns are always plural.
- jeans
- binoculars
- cards
- games
- clippers
- darts
- gymnastics
- diseases
- dominoes
- ethics
- glasses
- linguistics
- mathematics
- economics
- measles
- trousers
- physics
- pants
- police
- rabies
- robbers
- politics
- scissors
- shorts
Rule#5 There are few nouns that have an identical form of singular and plural nouns and both end with ‘s’.
- barracks,
- crossroads,
- headquarters,
- means,
- species
Rule#6 Some nouns are used with modifiers. If that is the case, change the noun, not the modifiers. In a hyphenated compound word, you must change the first word into plural form.
| Singular | Plural |
| brother-in-law | brothers-in-law |
| editor-in-chief | editors-in-chief |
| mother-in-law | mothers-in-law |
| grandson-in-law | grandsons-in-law |
| guest of honor | guests of honor |
| minister of education | ministers of education |
| runner-up | runners-up |
Rule#7 Some nouns may have two different kinds of plural.
Fish has two plurals.
- Fish
- Fishes
Fish (General Purpose)
- Normally we use the plural noun fish.
- Example – I have caught a few fish. Here, few fish mean more than one but the plural noun ‘fish’ is used.
Fishes (it refers to individual fish)
- She loves aquarium and she has given different names to different fishes. Here, many fishes as all fishes are named individually.
Rule#8 Certain plural nouns are used as a singular.
Example,
- Mathematics
- News
- Luggage
- Politics
Sentence example,
- Mathematics is not a difficult subject if you understand properly.
- The news is really very encouraging for the youth.
Rule#9 Collective nouns are usually singular, even though they might sound plural.
For example,
- Ambush
- Flock
- Herd
- Bunch
In the above, although ambush, flock, herd, bunch, etc. refer to the group but acts as a single item.
Rule#10 Non-countable nouns do not have plural forms.
For example,
- Water
- Soup
- Ketch-up
- Sugar
Sentence examples,
- Water is deep. Here, water used as a singular noun.
Rule#11 Few nouns ending with ‘s’ only have a plural form when it has a certain meaning.
- Customs (it means customs services at the airport),
- Goods (things or merchandise, not the opposite of bad),
- Arms (it refers to weapons here instead of limb)
So, we have learned basic tricks to remember irregular plural nouns, lets check the list of 100 irregular plurals.
Most Common 100 Irregular Plural Nouns List
We have made a list of more than 100 examples of irregular based on our daily uses. This list is provided with a remark so that we can remember easily.
Let’s explore, 100 irregular plural nouns list.
| Sl. No. | Singular | Plural | Remarks |
| 1 | aircraft | aircraft | No change in aircraft, not added any extra letter |
| 2 | Alumna | Alumnae | ‘a’ changed into ‘ae’ |
| 3 | Antenna | antennae | ‘a’ changed into ‘ae’ |
| 4 | Apex | apices | ‘ex’ changed into ‘ices’ |
| 5 | Axis | axes | ‘is’ changed into ‘es’ |
| 6 | arms | arms | It refers to weapons, not the limb |
| 7 | barracks | barracks | No change in barracks |
| 8 | basis | bases | ‘is’ changed into ‘es’ |
| 9 | beau | beaux or beaus | |
| 10 | binoculars | binoculars | No change in binoculars |
| 11 | bison | bison | No change in bison |
| 12 | brother-in-law | brothers-in-law | The main word ‘brother’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 13 | bureau | bureaux or bureaus | |
| 14 | cactus | cacti | ‘us’ changed into ‘i’ |
| 15 | cards | cards | No change in cards |
| 16 | chick | chicken | Word is changed in chicken |
| 17 | child | children | Word is changed in children |
| 18 | clippers | clippers | No change in clippers |
| 19 | cod | Cod, cods | |
| 20 | codes | codies | ‘es’ changed into ‘ies’ |
| 21 | corps | corps | No change in crops |
| 22 | corpus | corpora | |
| 23 | crisis | crises | ‘is’ changed into ‘es’ |
| 24 | criterion | criteria | ‘on’ changed into ‘a’ |
| 25 | crossroads | crossroads | No change in crossroads |
| 26 | customs | customs | It refers to the airport, not practices |
| 27 | darts | darts | No change in darts |
| 28 | deer | deer | No change in deer |
| 29 | diagnosis | diagnoses | ‘is’ changed into ‘es’ |
| 30 | die | dice or dies | |
| 31 | diseases | diseases | No change in diseases |
| 32 | dominoes | dominoes | No change in dominoes |
| 33 | Daughter-in-law | daughters-in-law | The main word ‘daughter’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 34 | economics | economics | No change in economics |
| 35 | editor-in-chief | editors-in-chief | The main word ‘editor’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 36 | elf | elves | |
| 37 | Ellipsis | ellipses | ‘is’ changed into ‘es’ |
| 38 | ethics | ethics | No change in ethics |
| 39 | faux pas | faux pas | |
| 40 | fireman | firemen | Word is changed in firemen |
| 41 | fish | fish | No change in fish. Fish sometimes changed into fishes based on the irregular plural noun rules. |
| 42 | foot | feet or foot |
| 43 | fungus | fungi | ‘us’ changed into ‘i’ |
| 44 | gallows | gallows | |
| 45 | games | games | No change in games |
| 46 | genus | genera or genuses | |
| 47 | glasses | glasses | No change in glasses |
| 48 | goods | goods | It refers to merchandise, not related good or bad |
| 49 | goose | geese | Word is changed in geese |
| 50 | grandson-in-law | grandsons-in-law | The main word ‘grandson’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 51 | grouse | grouse | No change in grouse |
| 52 | guest of honor | guests of honor | The main word ‘guest’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 53 | guts | guts | courage, not intestines |
| 54 | gymnastics | gymnastics | No change in gymnastics |
| There are so many worksheets for irregular plural nouns available on the internet. | |||
| 55 | headquarters | headquarters | No change in headquarters |
| 56 | jeans | jeans | No change in jeans |
| 57 | knife | knives | ‘fe’ changed into ‘ves’ |
| 58 | larva | larvae | ‘a’ changed into ‘ae’ |
| 59 | leaf | leaves | ‘f’ changed into ‘ves’ |
| 60 | linguistics | linguistics | No change in linguistics |
| 61 | louse | lice | Word is changed in lice |
| 62 | man | men | Word is changed in men |
| 63 | mathematics | mathematics | No change in mathematics |
| 64 | means | means | No change in means |
| 65 | measles | measles | No change in measles |
| 66 | Minister of education | ministers of education | The main word ‘minister’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 67 | moose | moose | No change in moose |
| 68 | mother-in-law | mothers-in-law | The main word ‘mother’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 69 | mouse | mice | Word is changed |
| 70 | nebula | nebulae or nebulas | |
| 71 | news | news | No change in news |
| 72 | offspring | offspring or offsprings | |
| 73 | opus | opera or opuses | |
| 74 | ox | oxen | Word is changed |
| 75 | pants | pants | No change in pants |
| 76 | person | people | Word is changed |
| 77 | physics | physics | No change in physics |
| 78 | police | police | No change in police |
| 79 | politics | politics | No change in politics |
| 80 | quail | Quail or quails | |
| 81 | rabies | rabies | No change in rabies |
| 82 | robbers | robbers | No change in robbers |
| 83 | runner-up | runners-up | |
| 84 | salmon | salmon or salmons | |
| 85 | scissors | scissors | No change in scissors |
| 86 | series | series | No change in series |
| 87 | sheep | sheep | No change in sheep |
| 88 | shorts | shorts | No change in shorts |
| 89 | shrimp | shrimp or shrimps |
| 90 | Son-in-law | Sons-in-law | The main word ‘son’ is changed, no change in modifiers |
| 91 | species | species | No change in species |
| 92 | swine | swine | No change in swine |
| 93 | thesis | theses | |
| 94 | tooth | teeth | Word is changed |
| 95 | trousers | trousers | No change in trousers |
| 96 | trout | trout or trouts | |
| 97 | tuna | tuna or tunas | |
| 98 | woman | women | Word is changed |
| 99 | wolf | wolves | |
| 100 | wife | wives |
Conclusion
So, we have learned a big list, around 100 irregular plural nouns which we use in our daily life. If you have any doubt please feel free to write to us.
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