# What is the plural form of the word "orifice?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861 "2003-08-13T07:50:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrGrizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@MrGrizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrGrizz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/1 "2003-08-13T07:50:28Z")
What is the plural form of the word “orifice?” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/2 "2003-08-13T08:14:12Z")
What wrong with “orifices”? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/3 "2003-08-13T08:16:36Z")
Orifaeces? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/4 "2003-08-13T08:22:23Z")
I thought orifice was already plural. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/5 "2003-08-13T08:24:09Z")
orifices stomata holes ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/6 "2003-08-13T10:01:59Z")
**PUSSIES!** ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/7 "2003-08-13T11:34:10Z")
The United States House of Representatives? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/8 "2003-08-13T12:35:51Z")
There are Latin-derived nouns (mostly ending in “x”) that form accepted English plurals in “-ices” : _matrix, matrices_, or _index, indices_, for example. But “orifice” isn’t one of them (the Latin derivation here is ultimately from _os, oris_ “a mouth” plus _facere_ “to make”). So, “orifice” is a singular noun, whose plural is “orifices”. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/9 "2003-08-13T12:54:29Z")
Steve Wright in the Afternoon Steve Wright or just Steve Wright? I’d have said Orifii, y’know like cactai,or whatever it is ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/10 "2003-08-13T13:01:56Z")
It’s not the Steve Wright you mean, but neither is it _just_ Steve Wright, as anyone at the receiving end of his rapier wit would attest. Steve is so special we’re thinking of installing a blue plaque on his forehead. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/11 "2003-08-13T13:56:46Z")
I don’t really understand Steve Wright’s point. If it was one of the “Latin-derived nouns that form accepted English plurals in ‘-ices’”, wouldn’t it still be “orifices”? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/12 "2003-08-13T14:19:11Z")
Orifwaah. I’m certain of it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/13 "2003-08-13T14:30:08Z")
My point, **SmackFu** , is that it _isn’t_ one of those words … it’s just a word that happens to look slightly like one. That is, there’s no “orifex” or something from which “orifices” would derive … (I was sort of trying to answer **Mudshark** ’s comment, above, about thinking it was already plural.) ( **jr8** - would it match the blue plaque on my teeth? 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![frixxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@frixxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frixxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/14 "2003-08-13T14:39:34Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* \*\*My point, **SmackFu** , is that it _isn’t_ one of those words … it’s just a word that happens to look slightly like one. That is, there’s no “orifex” or something from which “orifices” would derive … (I was sort of trying to answer **Mudshark** ’s comment, above, about thinking it was already plural.) Checked my medical dictionary…it’s orifices…Steve Wright…You win the “I’m a God for the Day” Award. Congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/15 "2003-08-13T14:49:00Z")
If a plural is not listed in the dictionary, then one forms it the normal way, as in adding “-s” or “-es.” Dictionaries only list irregular plurals, so far as I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/16 "2003-08-13T16:19:53Z")
What the heck did anyone think it would be? And why would you decided that orifice should form a plural like cactus? I can’t see the link. Orifices. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/17 "2003-08-13T17:20:37Z")
I think that the confusion stems from certain words derived from Latin that end in “us”, like _radius_ or _alumnus_, have irregular plurals (_radii_, _alumni_), and the current trend (I’ve even seen it on the SDMB) is for people to take other words in English that end in the same sound, like _penis_ or, perhaps, _orifice_, and, regardless of the word’s etymology, apply the same rule (_penii_, _orifi_.) I thought that the word _octopus_ was also one that people mistakenly pluralized as _octopi_, but, according to my American Heritage Dictionary, _octopi_ is an accepted plural (but _octopuses_ is preferred.) I’m not sure if this is because it’s correct or because it’s been used so long that it’s now accepted. Perhaps someone smarter can come along and enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-plural-form-of-the-word-orifice/194861/18 "2003-08-13T17:38:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\*It’s not the Steve Wright you mean, but neither is it _just_ Steve Wright, as anyone at the receiving end of his rapier wit would attest. Steve is so special we’re thinking of installing a blue plaque on his forehead. 😛 \*\* Oh OK so, I was kind of hoping to find out how Sid The Manager was getting on these days … 😃