# Homonyms in English with non-homonym plurals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612 "2011-01-06T15:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/21 "2011-01-07T04:05:00Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Antenna (animal appendage) - Antennae > Antenna (apparatus to send and receive radio waves) - Antennas Similarly, several end-matter sections in books are _appendices_; several vermiform intestinal structures are _appendixes_. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/22 "2011-01-07T07:14:30Z")
Not that rare a class, then. Is there any term for them? I’m thinking of something along the lines of _Imperfect Homonyms_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/23 "2011-01-07T07:47:30Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Not on this side of the Atlantic AFAIAA. And certainly not in music. Sounds like you could coin the word to describe this phenomenon… Quartzonym? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/24 "2011-01-07T10:13:44Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Yes, that makes them very uncommon. Here’s a possible example: > > [Animé](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anim%C3%A9_%28oleo-resin%29), meaning a kind of resin: plural “animés”. > [Anime](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime), meaning Japanese animated film: plural “anime” (following Japanese pluralisation rules). > > Is the acute accent a problem in this case? Japanese anime is often spelled with the accent over the e, following the rule that an E in a normally silent position needs a mark–a rule that came from French. And the default mark is an acute accent. These days, though, it’s usually only used to avoid ambiguity, like in resumé and Moé (an anime term for manipulating sexual and relationship feelings using nurturing instincts. It’s similar to a gender reversed Florence Nightingale syndrome). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/25 "2011-01-07T10:57:11Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > And the homonym staves has two singulars - stave as in musical stave and staff. There’s a couple other examples of this, although they are not technically homonyms, since they don’t sound the same. But they’re spelled the same: bases – base and basis axes – ax and axis ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/26 "2011-01-07T14:06:43Z")
That guy is a louse Designed a computer mouse Has pet louse and mouse. Those guys are louses. Designed computer mouses. Have pet lice and mice. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/27 "2011-01-07T14:16:47Z")
We hates those meeces to pieces. 😃 (I use a trackball.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/28 "2011-01-07T22:08:00Z")
How about fish: a single animal, plural fish fish: a species of fish, plural fishes ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/29 "2011-01-08T05:47:56Z")
car key (singular), car keys (plural) khaki (adjective – doesn’t have a plural) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/30 "2011-01-08T08:21:56Z")
> [@](#): > > khaki (adjective – doesn’t have a plural) Sure it does. Colours, like many adjectives, can be used as nouns in English. _The khakis used by the British were greener in hue than those used by the Wehrmacht_. And obviously your suggestion is a pair of homophones (in some dialects of English), but not homographs and therefore not homonyms. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/31 "2011-01-08T11:07:18Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Sure it does. Colours, like many adjectives, can be used as nouns in English. _The khakis used by the British were greener in hue than those used by the Wehrmacht_. And obviously your suggestion is a pair of homophones (in some dialects of English), but not homographs and therefore not homonyms. I somehow missed the condition that the two words be homographs. So, we want two (a) nouns (b) with identical spelling (c) spoken identically (d) with distinctly different meanings and possiblyy different etymologies (e) that form plurals in different ways. This narrows the field significantly since pluralisation is fairly standard in English. Irregular plurals are generally older words: ox / oxen, mouse / mice. There are probably two different categories that we can find. 1. Homonyms having the same etymology. These are likely common words with a variety of meanings having diverged over time - one or more meanings having gained a specific usage as a different part of speech and therefore behaving differently. I submit _blind_ I had to decide whether to install one blind or two blinds. It is not acceptable to discriminate against the blind. This second usage however is really an adjective acting as a noun and only in the plural. 1. Homonyms having a different etymology. Most likely candidates here are words recently adopted into english and retaining the plurals they had in the original language. There should be a few of these but I can’t think of any at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/32 "2011-01-08T12:53:11Z")
I think condition (d) can perhaps be relaxed a bit. **Quartz** appears to accept pairs such as media (newspapers, televison etc.) and mediums (psychics), which are closely related in meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/33 "2011-01-08T14:33:40Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > It is not acceptable to discriminate against the blind. > > This second usage however is really an adjective acting as a noun and only in the plural. I don’t think _blind_ counts because in the sense of the visually disabled, it’s a group noun and doesn’t have a plural. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/34 "2011-01-08T16:07:56Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I can’t think of any case in which the plural of the unit of measurement is “foot” It is very common in colloquial British English, at least. If someone asked me how tall I was, I would say “six foot”, not “feet”. It’s the same with other units - in certain circumstances, the singular form may be used as a plural. ---
**Author:** ![Goofus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@Goofus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goofus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/35 "2011-01-08T17:47:29Z")
ewe - ewes you - you ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/36 "2011-01-08T18:26:57Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > A staff can be a length of wood. The plural is staves. > A staff can be a group of subordinates. The plural is staffs. > > Staff is a homonym - one word, both a homologue and a homophone, with two meanings. But each meaning has a separate plural. Is there a term for such? Are there any other such homonyms in English? The plural of Staff, is Staff surely? I’e one member of staff turned up today, twenty members of staff turned up today. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/37 "2011-01-08T18:37:26Z")
Some nouns have different plurals depending on circumstance. In the case you describe, the plural form is the same as the singular. But it is perfectly correct to pluralise “staff” as “staffs” in some situations. For example “the staff of Acme Inc. wore red. The staff of XYZ Inc. also wore red. Both staffs wore red.” ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/38 "2011-01-08T18:46:57Z")
Hmm, I would still use staff for even for that circumstance, I must admit I have never heard 'staffs’used in any context. ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/39 "2011-01-08T19:08:55Z")
Ack, Edit. Sorry I still can’t work out how to edit my posts… Except for the usage of somebody staffing something, I.E - ‘Seargent Ect staffs the comand post.’ ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612/40 "2011-01-08T19:23:02Z")
That’s an inflection of the verb “to staff”, rather than a pluralisation of the noun that we are discussing. I admit that it would be rare to hear the plural noun “staffs” but I think that, in the example I gave, “both staffs wore red” is more correct than “both staff wore red”, which just sounds wrong unless you are talking about members of the same staff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homonyms-in-english-with-non-homonym-plurals/566612.md?page=3)