A friend and I were recently discussing what our possibilities for recreation are for a trip to Sedona, Arizona, this summer. When I said “vortexes,” her response was “shouldn’t it be vortices?” I had never heard that word, but told her I would investigate and use it as a blog topic. So here we are.
According to the Gregg Reference Manual nouns of a foreign origin retain their foreign plurals while some now have English plurals and others have two plurals—both foreign and English. How confusing is that? When there are two plural forms, one form may be preferred to the other and you are instructed to check your dictionary to be sure of the correct plural form.
I will not quote the entire section from Gregg, but it is interesting indeed. It is in the Tribute (11th) edition starting on page 204. Here are select entries:
| WORDS ENDING IN US (the asterisk indicates the preferred form) | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| cactus | cactuses | cacti* |
| focus | focuses* | foci |
| nucleus | nucleuses | nuclei* |
| stylus | styluses | styli* |
| thesaurus | thesauruses | thesauri* |
| WORDS ENDING IN A | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| agenda | agendas | |
| dogma | dogmas* | dogmata |
| formula | formulas* | formulae |
| vertebra | vertebras | vertebrae* |
| WORDS ENDING IN UM | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| addendum | addenda | |
| auditorium | auditoriums* | auditoria |
| consortium | consortiums* | consortia |
| curriculum vitae | curricula vitae | |
| erratum | errata | |
| maximum | maximums* | maxima |
| memorandum | memorandums* | memoranda |
| stadium | stadiums* | stadia |
| ultimatum | ultimatums* | ultimate |
| WORDS ENDING IN O | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| crescendo | crescendos* | crescendo |
| tempo | tempos | tempi (in music) |
| WORDS ENDING IN ON | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| criterion | criterions | criteria* |
| phenomenon | phenomenons | phenomena* |
| WORDS ENDING IN X | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| appendix | appendixes* | appendices |
| crux | cruxes* | cruces |
| index | indexes (of books) | indices (math symbols) |
| matrix | matrixes | matrices* |
| vortex | vortexes | vortices* |
| WORDS ENDING IN IS | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| analysis | analyses | |
| crisis | crises | |
| ellipsis | ellipses | |
| parenthesis | parentheses | |
| synopsis | synopses | |
| WORDS ENDING IN EU OR EAU | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| Adieu | adieus* | adieux |
| Bureau | bureaus* | bureaux |
| Plateau | plateaus* | plateaux |
| COMPOUND WORDS | ||
| Singular | English Plural | Foreign Plural |
| chaise longue | chaise longues* | chaises longues |
| hors d’oeuvre | hors d’ouevres* | hors d’oeuvre |
| maître d’ | maître d’s | |
So did you learn anything from this taste of English and foreign pluralization of foreign nouns? I sure did! I was wrong and will forevermore refer to Sedona’s vortices correctly. Who knew?
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