A ''plurale tantum'' (Latin for "plural only"; ) is a noun that appears only in the
plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
form and does not have a
singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used.
In English, ''pluralia tantum'' are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as ''spectacles'', ''trousers'', ''pants'', ''scissors'', ''clothes'', or ''genitals''. Other examples are for collections that, like ''
alms'' and ''
feces'', cannot conceivably be singular. Other examples include ''
suds'', ''jeans'', ''outskirts'', ''
odds
Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics.
Odds also have ...
'', ''riches'', ''surroundings'', ''thanks'', and ''heroics''.
In some languages, ''pluralia tantum'' refer to points or periods of time (for example,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
'calends, the first day of the month',
German 'vacation, holiday') or to events (for example,
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
'wedding' and 'face'). In some cases there is no obvious
semantic reason for a particular noun to be ''plurale tantum''. The
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
() 'water',
Chichewa 'water',
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
'brain',
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
() 'money' are ''pluralia tantum''.
A bilingual example is the Latin word that was brought into English; when referring to the symbol of authority, it is a ''plurale tantum'' noun in both languages.
English usage
In English, some ''plurale tantum'' nouns have a singular form used only
attributively. Phrases such as "trouser press" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, but it is considered nonstandard to say "a trouser" or "a scissor" on its own. That accords with the strong preference for singular nouns in attributive positions in English, but some words are used in the plural form even as attributive nouns, such as "clothes peg", "glasses case" – notwithstanding "spectacle case" and "eyeglass case".
In English, a word may have many definitions only some of which are ''pluralia tantum''. The word "glasses" (a set of corrective lenses to improve eyesight) is ''plurale tantum''. In contrast, the word "glass"— either a container for drinks (a
count noun
In linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a quantity and that occurs in both singular and plural forms, and that can co-occur with quantificational determiners like ''every'', ''each'', ''several'', ...
) or a vitreous substance (a
mass noun)— may be singular or plural. Some words, such as "brain" and "intestine", can be used as either ''plurale tantum'' nouns or count nouns.
Singulare tantum
The term for a noun that appears only in the singular form is ''singulare tantum'' (plural: ''singularia tantum''), such as the English words ''information'', ''dust'', and ''wealth''. ''Singulare tantum'' is defined by the ''
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' (''SOED'') is an English language dictionary published by the Oxford University Press. The SOED is a two-volume abridgement of the twenty-volume ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'').
Print editions ...
'' as "''Gram''. A word having only a singular form; ''esp.'' a non-count noun." Such nouns may refer to a unique singular object (essentially a proper noun), but more often than not, they refer to uncountable nouns, either
mass nouns (referring to a substance that cannot be counted as distinct objects, such as ''milk'') or collective nouns (referring to objects that may in principle be counted but are referred to as one, such as ''popcorn'' or
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
'
mulberry'). Given that they do not have a number distinction, they may appear as ''singulare tantum'' in one language but as ''plurale tantum'' in another. Compare English ''water'' to the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''plurale tantum'', ().
In English, such words are almost always
mass nouns. Some uncountable nouns can be alternatively used as count nouns when meaning "a type of", and the plural means "more than one type of". For example, ''strength'' is uncountable in ''Strength is power'', but it can be used as a countable noun to mean an ''instance'' of
''kind'' ofstrength, as in ''My strengths are in physics and chemistry.'' Some words, especially proper nouns such as the name of an individual, are nearly always in the singular form because there is only one example of what that noun means.
Usage in other languages
''Pluralia tantum'' vary arbitrarily between languages. For example, in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, a pair of scissors is just (literal translation "one scissor"), not a ''plurale tantum''; similarly, in
French, a pair of trousers is 'un pantalon'.
In some other languages, rather than quantifying a ''plurale tantum'' noun with a
measure word
In linguistics, measure words are words (or morphemes) that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of something represented by some noun.
Description
Measure words denote a unit or measurement and are used with mass nouns ( ...
, special numeral forms are used in such cases. In
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
, for example, "one pair of eyeglasses" is expressed as either (one-''plural'' glasses-''plural'') or (one-''singular'' pair-''singular'' glasses-''genitive plural''). For larger quantities, "collective numeral" forms are available: (three doors), (five violins). Compare them to the ordinary numeral forms found in Polish: (three films/five films)
The
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
( money) originally had a singular, (), which meant a copper coin worth half a
kopeck
The kopek or kopeck ( rus, копейка, p=kɐˈpʲejkə, ukr, копійка, translit=kopiika, p=koˈpʲijkə, be, капейка) is or was a coin or a currency unit of a number of countries in Eastern Europe closely associated with t ...
.
The Yiddish word ''
kreplach
Kreplach (from yi, קרעפּלעך, Kreplekh) are small dumplings filled with ground meat, mashed potatoes or another filling, usually boiled and served in chicken soup, though they may also be served fried. They are similar to Polish and Ukra ...
'' is a well known example of a plurale tantum that is also plural only in other languages into which it is borrowed, 'one of the kreplach' would be איינער פון די קרעפּלאַך (eyner fun di kreplakh).
The
Welsh 'heaven' is the plural of which is no longer part of the spoken language. is now used with the singular meaning 'heaven' and plural 'heavens'.
References
External links
*
See also
*
Classifier (linguistics)
*
Defective verb
In linguistics, a defective verb is a verb that either lacks a conjugated form or entails incomplete conjugation, and thus cannot be conjugated for certain grammatical tenses, aspects, persons, genders, or moods that the majority of verbs or ...
*
English plural
English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that, if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plural nouns are formed ...
*
Mass noun
*
Singulative number
*
Synesis
*
Wiktionary lists of ''pluralia tantum''
{{Authority control
Grammar
Latin words and phrases
Grammatical number
is:Fleirtala