The plural of fox … :). What are some tricky plurals we missed? ", One of those strange grammar things just like the singular of Opera is Opus. Yet using hooves is also valid. So if my wife had been there as well, she would've said, "I'm an alumna," or, "We're alumni. In this article, we'll cover several tricky plurals (such as "moose" and "moose") and do our best to explain how they work. Am I bringing my character back to life too much? No one really knows why it dropped out of use, or why it managed to survive in oxen and in two others that have more complicated stories: children and brethren. For example, hooves is an acceptable plural of hoof. The proto-Germanic word for oxen was ukhson so the ending didn't move too much. Oxen is a plural form of the old system. These are called invariants. Although Modern English has largely dropped the declensional suffixes we got from Old English, we occasionally see them peeking through, as we do here. (We use people because we're referring only to Americans. Though some use datas as a plural, others oppose the word. As Calimac said, lots of computer users have extended the -en ending, although I've haven't, AFAIK, seen that usage in the wild. If the plural of "ox" is "oxen," why isn't "foxen" the plural of "fox"? A noted characteristic of computer-user (and science-fiction fan) dialect is to apply non-standard grammatical rules wherever they might be amusing.Thus, it has long been established that the plural of fan is fen, and if you have more than one VAX computer, they are VAXen. Also, as Afrikaans has been defining itself as a language (over the last eighty years or so) it has defined its own spelling, incorporating recent changes, whereas Dutch spelling has been a bit more conservative. Infoplease is part of the FEN Learning family of educational and reference sites for parents, teachers and students. Joking: the plural of box is boxen. For example, "I saw a moose" is correct, as is, "I saw several moose." If the plural for goose is geese then why aren't a bunch of moose called meese? Many animals use the same word for both their singular and plural form. For instance: Easy enough. Ambiguity of nouns phrases in English. Learn more about the world with our collection of regional and country maps. Thanks for the vintage example of fen “in the wild”. What is the difference between fox and box versus ox, that the first two are pluralized as foxes and boxes, whereas the last one is pluralized oxen? øxn, a bit more like the OE forms).It was in the 12th century, I belive, that Old Swedish and Old Danish began to diverge from the earlier eastern dialect of the Old Norse. and if the plural of "mouse" is "mice", why in the name of common sense is the plural of "house" "houses"??? Don’t let me pretend to be an expert on Swedish, hahae, but no, my feeling is that oxar was probably a “normal” Swedish plural form all along, rather than a form later “standardized”. :). Since oxa was a weak noun, its plural form (the nominative plural form) was oxan. Bedeutungen: [1] der Fuchs. Having just taken a look, I can tell you that the forms oxe, pl. @Ardamir: Sure thing. Unless you're in a technical field, that singular has been largely abandoned. Over the course of centuries, the a "weakened" to an e, giving us oxen. Since when do political debates have a winner? To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. The Plural of Ox The plural of ox is oxen. Compared to German, the English plural system with the ending -s/-es is easy apart from a handful of plural forms that stem from the old system and which in most school books are labeled as exceptions. Trump's debate grades improve, but did his odds to win? Since fox rhymes with ox, you might think the plural of fox would be foxen. [Kudos to Mark for that first link]. Oxen are thought to have first been harnessed and put to work around 4000 BC. Yes, that's the same Bernadette Bosky. Steers are not regarded as fully grown until the age of 4, when they become known as oxen. For female graduates, the generally accepted form is alumna. However, prooves is not the plural of proof. Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via : © 2020 - Orpheus Technology, prowritingaid.com. I made this error several times and felt silly for doing so. Which type of course is the fastest for a 10km TT? Does calling something a 'Novelty Act' bring down its image? @David: Wasn’t Bernadette Bosky at Mythcon last year? why not deers or fishes or micen? As to Scylding's Afrikaans and Dutch examples*, I think the -n in the Dutch plural ending is definitely on its way to becoming mute, Afrikaans has simply been a bit earlier. Infoplease is a reference and learning site, combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and several almanacs loaded with facts. Instead, most grammarians accept data as both a singular and plural form. A grammar guru, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. Fox, on the other hand, comes from the Old English fox, which was a strong noun; its Old English plural was foxas, whence we get foxes.