5 ms·

Cacti is a plural of cactus.

by helge9210 5y ago

TchoBeer 5y ago
Sure, in Latin. Cactus is (also) an English word and thus its plural is cactuses.
- dokem 5y ago
  English intuition tells me I would use 'Cacti' when talking about cactus in general terms. 'Cactuses' would be appropriate when referring to a specific instance of multiple cactuses.
- newman8r 5y ago
  you could probably also get away with a phrase like "look at all this cactus" or "this hill is full of cactus" I'm not sure if it's correct, but it sounds correct.
  - monkmartinez 5y ago
    That is how most of my friends use the word "cactus" in Arizona.
  - renewiltord 5y ago
    That is correct, at least descriptively. For instance, I will routinely hear this like "There's a lot of sequoia up North" or "That forest is now full of eucalyptus".
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- twhb 5y ago
  In English the plural is cacti, with cactuses and cactus also accepted. In general, trying to treat English as a rule-based language, not an amalgamation of special cases, will result in mistakes. Like “gooses”, “passerbies”, “milleniums”, “datas”, “childs”, “criterions”, “foots”, “mans”. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus
  - TchoBeer 5y ago
    If OP said "cacti is also accepted" I would agree. Instead OP said "cactuses is wrong" which is what I take issue with.
    - SamBam 5y ago
      Ummm.... OP (or rather GP) said "Cacti is a plural of cactus." You replied with "Cactus is (also) an English word and thus its plural is cactuses." Only one of you made an assertion that implied that there was only one correct answer.
      - TchoBeer 5y ago
        That seems like an overly-close reading of GP. I don't think they would pointing out the other pluralization of cactus unless they thought there was something off about the one the article uses.
        corin_ 5y ago
        Better an overly close reading (which I think is actually correct) than the one in which you literally misquoted their words inside quote marks.
cnasc 5y ago
I typically say “cactopodes”

Cacti is a plural of cactus.

TchoBeer 5y ago

Sure, in Latin. Cactus is (also) an English word and thus its plural is cactuses.

dokem 5y ago
English intuition tells me I would use 'Cacti' when talking about cactus in general terms. 'Cactuses' would be appropriate when referring to a specific instance of multiple cactuses.
newman8r 5y ago
you could probably also get away with a phrase like "look at all this cactus" or "this hill is full of cactus" I'm not sure if it's correct, but it sounds correct.
- monkmartinez 5y ago
  That is how most of my friends use the word "cactus" in Arizona.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  That is correct, at least descriptively. For instance, I will routinely hear this like "There's a lot of sequoia up North" or "That forest is now full of eucalyptus".
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
twhb 5y ago
In English the plural is cacti, with cactuses and cactus also accepted. In general, trying to treat English as a rule-based language, not an amalgamation of special cases, will result in mistakes. Like “gooses”, “passerbies”, “milleniums”, “datas”, “childs”, “criterions”, “foots”, “mans”. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus
- TchoBeer 5y ago
  If OP said "cacti is also accepted" I would agree. Instead OP said "cactuses is wrong" which is what I take issue with.
  - SamBam 5y ago
    Ummm.... OP (or rather GP) said "Cacti is a plural of cactus." You replied with "Cactus is (also) an English word and thus its plural is cactuses." Only one of you made an assertion that implied that there was only one correct answer.
    - TchoBeer 5y ago
      That seems like an overly-close reading of GP. I don't think they would pointing out the other pluralization of cactus unless they thought there was something off about the one the article uses.
      - corin_ 5y ago
        Better an overly close reading (which I think is actually correct) than the one in which you literally misquoted their words inside quote marks.

cnasc 5y ago

I typically say “cactopodes”