Through common usage (even though incorrect), "octopi" is becoming an accepted plural for "octopus." Nevertheless, the safest version to use is "octopuses." ( See the difference in Google's Ngram Viewer. Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Octopus?Ĭonfusion arises over the plural of "octopus" because many believe it is a Latin noun that should be pluralized with an "i" (just like cactus becomes cacti). ![]() ![]() In fact, if theres just one genius and one octopus the geniuss octopus its the genii octopodem. The correct plural of octopus is octopuses. Some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change The accusative plural of octopus is still octopodes, but in the singular its octopodem. In its first (1909) and second (1989) editions, the Oxford English Dictionary gave only the two options octopodes and octopuses. ![]() (There are no rules for this - you have to know.) But you would never know this from a dictionary. The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English. The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals
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