So I went back to Chris Payne Alicia Bitondo and Bret Grasse who told me that while octopodes is technically fine the best plural form is still octopuses Flickr Creative Commons Mark Yokoyama Via Flickr. The problem is octopus derives from Greek.

Octopi Or Octopuses Here S The Correct Octopus Plural Ink Blog

Octopi the supposed plural of octopus is a favorite among fans of quirky words but it has no etymological basis.

Plural form of octopus. The correct plural of octopus is octopuses but irregular plural forms for octopus are octopi and octopodes. One may also ask what is a group of octopus called. People are up in arms about it.

The Plural of Octopus The plural of octopus is octopuses. Similarly rhinocеros should bеcomе rhinocеrotеs and stadium should bеcomе stadia. These irregular octopus plurals.

The i was a mistake but so many people adopted it that it became an acceptable alternative. However the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form is octopodes. The Many Plurals of Octopus Latin Endings for Latin Words.

You know this is actually a great question one that I think a lot of people will be interested in learning the answer to. Why do some dictionaries also list octopi as a possibility. Grammatically speaking the plural for octopus is octopuses.

Octopi octopuses and octopodes. Before then these creatures had. Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy with some species living for as little as six months.

Whats the Right Plural for Octopus. The reason for the octopi plural is because some people mistakenly associate octopus with Latin words like syllabus and alumnus. The plural form of octopus is the animal version of there their theyre.

The -us in octopus is thus a relic of the Greek pous for foot not the second-declension masculine Latin ending whose plural form is -i. English Endings for English Words. Since the word octopus was originally Greek it seems only logical that its plural form would be octopodes.

In Latin some plurals end with an i. Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous and its correct plural would logically be octopodes. Large octopuses have been known to catch and kill some species of sharks.

That means the correct plural is octopodes but as the. As the Merriam-Webster dictionary points out people use three different terms however. Octopi appears to be the oldest of the three main plurals dating back to the early 19th.

A group of octopuses is called a consortium. Theactionitems Octopodes is fine because the root of octopus is Greek like octopuses. The form was created by English speakers out of a mistaken belief that octopus is Latin and hence pluralized with an -i ending.

Octopuses which may rarely also be found rendered as octopusses dates from slightly. How do you make octopus plural. Latin words on thе othеr hand arе somеtimеs madе plural with an -i еndinglikе stimuli and syllabi for еxamplе.

Finding out the plural form of the word octopus though is going to require a little linguistic detective work. Sincе thе word octopus was originally Grееk it sееms only logical that its plural form would bе octopodеs. Similarly rhinoceros should become rhinocerotes and stadium should become stadia.

The arms of the octopuses were still squirming and moving and flopping in every direction. With more than a 250 species octopuses are members of an ancient group of animals called cephalopods. Although it is often supposed that octopi is the correct plural of octopus and it has been in use for longer than the usual Anglicized plural octopuses it in fact originates as an error.

The plural is octopuses. USAGE The standard English plural of octopus is octopuses. However the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used.

The plural form octopi is mistakenly formed according to rules for Latin plurals and is therefore incorrect. Greek Endings for Greek. Whether you write octopi on Reddit say octopodes on a podcast or text octopuses to your friends someone is going to correct you.

An octopus has many arms and also plural forms Octopus came into English only in the 18th century. The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. The plural form of octopus is octopuses or octopi hypercorrect.

The plural of octopus in Greek is in fact octopodes. The NOAD has the following note about the plural of octopus.