What exactly is the plural form of octopus? I've heard octopusES and octoPI from many different places. At m-w.com and dictionary.com, they have both down as pl. forms. They both can't be right, can they?
:bugout:

-DIH

YES THEY ARE! :shock: "Entirely to many plural names" is even on their resume! :P
Octopi
Octopuses
Octopods
Octopus
etc...

Yep, one of those words that has numerous spellings...cephkid is correct...either one is just fine. There does seem to be a leaning in scientific papers to use "octopi" or "octopii" recently...
greg

Linguistic sticklers will tell you that it should be octopoda, in keeping with the Greek origin of the word. The plural i or ii is from Latin. Scientific names are often based on Latin words, so this may be why scientists use it in the stuff Greg reads. You can confidently say octopuses, too. Or you can skip it entirely and refer to "all members of the genus Octopus."

Melissa

Melissa's right, infact...OCTOPI is the false plural for Octopus.

Although it is often supposed that octopi is the 'correct' plural of octopus, and it has been in use for longer than the usual Anglicized plural octopuses, it in fact originates as an error. Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension, but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous, and its 'correct' plural would logically be octopodes.

WoW! Thank you all!

I thought something was strange. You guys are so awesome!

-DIH :notworth:

Its from Greek. Therefore the plural is Octopodes.
Ok, we don't live in ancient Greece, but (being pedantic), OCTOPODES

"Ok, we don't live in ancient Greece"
No wonder everyone looks at me funny, with the toga on and all...oh well, bring on the women and wine!!!

Actually ancient Greek men often had sexual affairs with teenage boys. Not sure how authentic you want to be...

LOL

Actually ancient Greek men often had sexual affairs with teenage boys. Not sure how authentic you want to be...

How mature...

i refuse, even under the constraints of my native (not to mention other) language(s) [including Tony's blasphemous :) comment http://www.tonmo.com/sitefaq.php] to give in to the octopuses movement..... i say pluralize more things in -i... not just those ending in vowel + s.....

for example: the supreme bird in africa? those wily ostri.....

thus spake the kiboko :wink:


:cthulhu: :heart: :beer:

I'm going to have to upset the sticklers with my take on this one. Although that hideous text-messaging speak will hopefully not overpower us, I must point out that modern English (especially American English) is and has been a constantly evolving language. For hundreds of years it has been pulling in words, turns of speech, grammatical variations from innumerable foreign tongues, mixing and matching freely, constantly breaking it's own rules from generation to generation, and then incorporating these dreaded alien influences into official speech. You can kvetch all you want, but it is an ongoing process with as much chance of being halted as plate tectonics.

Anyway, according to Jacques-Yves Cousteau in Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intellingence, you are permitted to properly utilize octopus, octopi, octopuses, and octopussies, which I suppose brings us back to the Jamaican slang-term for the animal, "sea cat". Either that or Maude Adams in the thirteenth 007 film (great cheekbones).

Erich

Octopodes is the correct plural. Octopi is incorrect...

Here's an accurate article:

Plural
A note on the plural form: Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses", and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic. Octopi derives from the mistaken notion that octopus is Latin. It is not. It is (Latinized) Greek, from oktopous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktopodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were Latin, it would be octopes ('eight-foot') and the plural octopedes, analogous to centipedes and millipedes, as the plural form of pes ('foot') is pedes. In modern, informal Greek, it is called khtapodi (χταπόδι), gender neuter, with plural form khtapodia (χταπόδια).

That said, Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries accept octopi as a plural form. The Oxford English Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi, and octopodes (the order reflecting decreasing frequency of use), stating that the last form is rare. The term octopod (either plural octopods and octopodes can be found) is taken from the taxonomic order octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food. Finally worth mentioning is Octopussy, a blend word of octopus and pussycat, which found its way back from the movie title to a term of endearment for the animal that had originally inspired it.

greek is actualy my first language and plural for htapodi (octopus) is htapodia

Hello, this is my first post. If there is any rule against posting in old threads, let me know!

What exactly is the plural form of octopus? I've heard octopusES and octoPI from many different places.
I can give you some information about the Classical Greek and Latin(ized) forms of the word.

It is true that oktopodes (masculine and feminine) and oktopoda (neuter) are the normal (nominative) plurals of the Greek word oktopous, but the funny thing about the word pous ("foot") is that while its true stem is pod- (third declension), it had a shorter stem po- (second declension). This would also apply to its compound words.

The Romans themselves latinized Greek words and treated them as Latin words by giving them Latin endings, so the argument about how octopi is incorrect because it is a latinized Greek word treated as a Latin word was dreamt up by someone unfamiliar with Latin grammar. So, the "mistaken notion" here is the idea that octopi is problematic because it has a Latin ending.

The word polypus ("many foot"), from pous, was latinized and had the shorter stem polypo-. You would think that its plural would be polypodes, but it has the plural polypi.

Octopodes is the plural according to the true stem of the word octopus, but octopi is the latinized plural according to the shortened stem.

Octopi isn't really any more incorrect grammatically than polypi. It's just going by an unusual, but nevertheless existing, shorter form of the word.

On a related note, the Superorder name Octopodiformes uses the true stem (octopod-), but the Family name Octopoteuthidae uses the shorter one (octopo-).

Plural
A note on the plural form: Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses", and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
And yet it does not seem to have a problem with the plural form polypi.

Octopi derives from the mistaken notion that octopus is Latin. It is not. It is (Latinized) Greek, from oktopous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktopodes (ὀκτώποδες).
Yeah, again, this argument was dreamt up by someone unfamiliar with Latin grammar.

The Romans themselves gave latinized Greek words Latin endings, and here is the HTML version of a respected Latin grammar book (Allen and Greenough New Latin Grammar) showing various ways to do so:
http://www.hhhh.org/perseant/libellus/aides/allgre/allgre.81.html
http://www.hhhh.org/perseant/libellus/aides/allgre/allgre.82.html

Does heroibus, for instance, derive from the "mistaken notion" that heros is Latin? It is not.

How about tigrium, and so on?

And what about polypi?

This "mistaken notion" argument is specious at best.

Thanks for your linguistic kung-fu, and :welcome: to TONMO!

I am neither qualified nor foolish enough to leap (back) into the linguistic smackdown, but I would suggest from the sidelines that we coin the terms "octopedantry" and "octopedantic" for this discussion-- not meaning to make fun of the participants, just the debate itself.

p.s. replying to old threads is usually encouraged, certainly in this case!

Fun discussion and a first to bring up the idea that the Romans were a bit snobbish with their acquisition of Greek words. I guess I will have to allow my (fun) neighbors to use octopi now. They will be so disappointed that I don't object when they try to goad me into making a correction :sagrin:

I'm boring and like to be simple........ I go with the sheep! 1 sheep many sheep: one octopus many octopus!!! That way I don't have to remember podes, podi, pedes, pi or any other p ending!!!!!!!

J

I'm finding this to be delightful! Welcome to our newest pedant!