4 ms·

I have a friend who says pluralising "octopus" as "octopi" shows ignorance of three languages - English, Latin, and Greek. "Octopus" is of Greek origin and the

I have a friend who says pluralising "octopus" as "octopi" shows ignorance of three languages - English, Latin, and Greek. "Octopus" is of Greek origin and the Greek plural is "octopodes". The Latin plural is "polyporum" (the singular being "polypus"). The English plural is "octopuses" as we add "s" or "es" when pluralising.

sbmassey 12y ago
'polyporum' would be genitive plural 'of the octopuses'. The more usual nominative plural would 'polypi'
thisjepisje 12y ago
On the other hand, you could say that not accepting "octopi" as a plural of "octopus" shows 'ignorance' of languages in general.