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| Weeee.. the plural form? Whatever.. XD |
Octopodes, octopi, or octopuses? So, which is the correct plural form of octopus? Well, all those three are correct. According to the associate editor of Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Kory Stamper, the word octopus first appeared in mid-1700's and its plural form octopuses, but when radical grammarians decided to standardized the pluralization of nouns, where the Latin's pattern of pluralization was adapted, octopuses became octopi. This should have resolved the issue of octopus's plural form, however, another concern was raised - octopus is not a Latin word but Greek! For this reason, some smarter grammarians gave a proper Greek plural ending to octopus which is octopodes, a term seldom used and only heard in British English. But then Stamper asserted that when a foreign lexical item enters the English world, its inflection must be according to the language's pattern! Hence the three plural forms of octopus - octopuses, octopi, and octopuses. (Just be careful when using the term octopodes, you have to say it in the British English way.) ^_^
