Plurale tantum
Encyclopedia
A plurale tantum is a noun that appears only in the plural
form and does not have a singular
variant for referring to a single object. Many languages have pluralia tantum, such as the English
words cattle, clothes, scissors, entrails, pants, trousers, and faeces, the Russian word den'gi [деньги] ("money"), the Swedish
word inälvor ("intestines"), or the Dutch word hersenen ("brains").
In many dialects of English, quantifying a plurale tantum noun requires a measure word
, for example "one pair of scissors" instead of "one scissors".
as: "Gram. A word having only a singular form; esp. a non-count noun." In the English language, such words are almost always uncountable nouns
. Some non-count nouns can be alternatively used as count nouns meaning "a type of", in which case the plural means "more than one type of" (for example, strength is uncountable in Strength is power but can be used as a countable noun meaning type of strength as in My strengths are in physics and chemistry). Some words - especially proper nouns, such as the full name of an individual - are nearly always in the singular because only one example exists of what the noun means.
In some other languages, rather than quantifying a plurale tantum noun with a measure word
, special numeral forms are used in such cases. In Polish
, for example, "one pair of eyeglasses" is expressed as either jedne okulary (one-plur. glasses-plur.) or jedna para okularów (one-sing. pair-sing. glasses-gen. plur.). For larger quantities, "collective numeral" forms are available: troje drzwi (three doors), pięcioro skrzypiec (five violins). Compare these to the ordinary numeral forms found in Polish: trzy filmy / pięć filmów (three films / five films)
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
form and does not have a singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
variant for referring to a single object. Many languages have pluralia tantum, such as the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
words cattle, clothes, scissors, entrails, pants, trousers, and faeces, the Russian word den'gi [деньги] ("money"), the Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
word inälvor ("intestines"), or the Dutch word hersenen ("brains").
English usage
In English, some plurale tantum nouns in fact have a singular form, but one that is used only attributively. That is, phrases such as "trouser presses" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, even though it is ungrammatical to say "a trouser" on its own. This accords with a general preference for singular nouns in attributive positions in English; however, some words are used in the plural form even as attributive nouns (e.g. "clothes peg", "glasses case").In many dialects of English, quantifying a plurale tantum noun requires a measure word
Measure word
In linguistics, measure words are words that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of some noun. They denote a unit or measurement and are used with nouns that are not countable. For instance, in English, is a mass noun and thus one cannot say *"three muds", but one can say...
, for example "one pair of scissors" instead of "one scissors".
Related terms
The term for a noun which appears only in the singular form is singulare tantum (plural: singularia tantum); for example, the English words "information", "dust", and "wealth". Singulare tantum is defined by the Shorter Oxford English DictionaryShorter Oxford English Dictionary
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, often abbreviated to SOED, is a scaled-down version of the Oxford English Dictionary . It comprises two volumes rather than the twenty needed for the full second edition of the OED...
as: "Gram. A word having only a singular form; esp. a non-count noun." In the English language, such words are almost always uncountable nouns
Mass noun
In linguistics, a mass noun is a noun that refers to some entity as an undifferentiated unit rather than as something with discrete subsets. Non-count nouns are best identified by their syntactic properties, and especially in contrast with count nouns. The semantics of mass nouns are highly...
. Some non-count nouns can be alternatively used as count nouns meaning "a type of", in which case the plural means "more than one type of" (for example, strength is uncountable in Strength is power but can be used as a countable noun meaning type of strength as in My strengths are in physics and chemistry). Some words - especially proper nouns, such as the full name of an individual - are nearly always in the singular because only one example exists of what the noun means.
Usage in non-English languages
Pluralia tantum vary arbitrarily between languages. For example, Swedish en sax ("a scissor") is not a plurale tantum, while in English it is (scissors).In some other languages, rather than quantifying a plurale tantum noun with a measure word
Measure word
In linguistics, measure words are words that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of some noun. They denote a unit or measurement and are used with nouns that are not countable. For instance, in English, is a mass noun and thus one cannot say *"three muds", but one can say...
, special numeral forms are used in such cases. In Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, for example, "one pair of eyeglasses" is expressed as either jedne okulary (one-plur. glasses-plur.) or jedna para okularów (one-sing. pair-sing. glasses-gen. plur.). For larger quantities, "collective numeral" forms are available: troje drzwi (three doors), pięcioro skrzypiec (five violins). Compare these to the ordinary numeral forms found in Polish: trzy filmy / pięć filmów (three films / five films)
See also
- English pluralEnglish pluralIn the English language, nouns are inflected for grammatical number —that is, singular or plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plurals are formed for nouns...
- Singulative number
- SynesisSynesisSynesis is a traditional grammatical/rhetorical term derived from Greek...
- Wiktionary list of English pluralia tantum.