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A double plural is a plural form to which an extra suffix has been added, mainly because the original plural suffix (or other variation) had become unproductive and therefore irregular. So the form as a whole was no longer seen as a plural, an instance of morphological leveling. For example, if "geese" (the plural) became the word for "goose" (the singular) in a future version of English, a word geeses might become the licit plural form.
Examples of this can be seen in the history of English and Dutch. Historically, the general English plural markers were not only -s or -en but also (in certain specific declensions) -ra/-ru (which is still rather general today in German under the form -er). The ancient plural of child was "cildra/cildru", to which an -en suffix was later added when the -ra/-ru became unproductive; the Dutch plural form kind-er-en and the corresponding Zeelandic form kind-er-s are also double plurals which were formed in the same way as the English double plurals, while for example German and Limburgian have (historically conservative) single plurals such as Kind-er.
Breeches is an example involving an old plural that did not use a suffix. It was formerly breech which came from Old English brec which was the plural of broc.
A doubleplural is a plural form to which an extra suffix has been added, mainly because the original plural suffix (or other variation) had become unproductive...
the plural with itself, to mean multiple different groups. This has been called the "plural of the plural", the pluralplural, or the doubleplural. An...
English plurals include the plural forms of English nouns and English determiners. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plurals are...
second-person plural, which can also be used to express formality (See T–V distinction), uses the suffixes -in/-ın/-ün/-un. The second person double-plural, reserved...
double-u, pluraldouble-ues. Double-u, whose name reflects stages in the letter's evolution when it was considered two of the same letter, a double U...
its phonetically full form, known as the status absolutus. In SBH, the plural–singular distinction between nouns is still apparent, whether they are cast...
A double entendre (pluraldouble entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which...
strong -(e)s plural form has survived into Modern English. The weak -(e)n form is now rare and used only in oxen and as part of a doubleplural, in children...
inflection in common use: ox, whose plural is oxen, and child, whose plural is children, the latter being a doubleplural. Additionally, the words aurochs...
Graecae 2.302a), the Lydian word for the double-bitted axe. In Greek it was called πέλεκυς (pélekys). The plural of labrys is labryes (λάβρυες). Plutarch...
— the -y is added to make it a regular plural in Polish due to declension (the word turns into doubleplural); Polish pierogi (pl.) → English pierogis...
Contraction (grammar) Genitive case Modifier letter double apostrophe Possessive case "Pease" as an old plural of "pea" is indeterminate: Lentils' and pease'[s]...
commonly used with the English plural ending -s in Canada and United States of America, pierogis, thus making it a "doubleplural". A similar situation happened...
and others worldwide. Its name in English is a (pronounced /ˈeɪ/ AY), plural aes. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which...
identical in the plural. The locative is identical to the ablative in the 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions. The nominative and accusative plurals are identical...
britches, differ from breeches. Breeches is a doubleplural known since c. 1205, from Old English brēc, the plural of brōc "garment for the legs and trunk"...
singular possessive man's /mænz/ and the plural possessive men's Note the distinction from the plural in nouns whose plural is irregular: man's vs. men, wife's...
(pronounced /ˈdʒiː/), plural gees. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the single-storey (sometimes "opentail") and the double-storey (sometimes...
eidolon (/aɪˈdoʊlɒn/; Ancient Greek: εἴδωλον 'image, idol, double, apparition, phantom, ghost'; plural: eidola or eidolons) is a spirit-image of a living or...
customer-clerk, colleagues) plural second-person siz is used almost exclusively. In very formal situations, doubleplural second-person sizler may refer...
can be either masculine or feminine plural, when it is feminine plural, the initial consonant of the noun is doubled. For example, consider ’a lista, which...
in certain manuscripts in the plural or dual forms of the root word eye, like Ꙫчи. A similar jocular glyph (called "double-dot wide O") has been suggested...
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