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Even a single item is called scissors (the singular form scissor is sometimes used in India).
A plurale tantum (Latin for 'plural only'; pl. pluralia tantum) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used.
'Putting on pants' is correct, 'putting on pant' sounds odd.
In English, pluralia tantum are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as spectacles, trousers, pants, scissors, clothes, or genitals. Other examples are for collections that, like alms and feces, cannot conceivably be singular. Other examples include suds, jeans, outskirts, odds, riches, gallows, surroundings, thanks, and heroics.
In some languages, pluralia tantum refer to points or periods of time (for example, Latin kalendae 'calends, the first day of the month', German Ferien 'vacation, holiday'), or to events (for example, Finnish häät 'wedding'), or to liquids (for example, Hebrew מַיִם (mayim) and Chichewa madzí, both 'water').
A bilingual example is the Latin word fasces that was brought into English; when referring to the symbol of authority, it is a plurale tantum noun in both languages.[1]
^Harper, Douglas. "fasces". Online Etymology Dictionary. "1590s, from Latin fasces 'bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade projecting' (plural of fascis 'bundle' of wood, etc.).... Carried before a lictor, a superior Roman magistrate, as a symbol of power over life and limb: the sticks symbolized punishment by whipping, the axe-head execution by beheading." Retrieved 2 August 2015.
A pluraletantum (Latin for 'plural only'; pl. pluralia tantum) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for...
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thousands", it is in fact not so definitely large. It is also (used as a pluraletantum noun) a kind of decorative confectionery consisting of tiny coloured...
A hair clipper, often individually called the apparent pluraletantum hair clippers (in a similar way to scissors), is a specialised tool used to cut human...
Slovak (pronounced [ˈtatri] ) or in Polish (pronounced [ˈtatrɨ]) - pluraletantum), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form...
shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the pluraletantum woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight...
Castrensis is a Latin adjective derived from the noun castra (a neutral pluraletantum) meaning "military camp". It is part of several titles of offices relating...
Fasces (/ˈfæsiːz/ FASS-eez, Latin: [ˈfaskeːs]; a pluraletantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning 'bundle'; Italian: fascio littorio) is a bound bundle...
The plural form, most common in speech but less so in print, is a pluraletantum, and seems to be on the model of a pair of scissors. The name of the...
pluralized from Proto-Semitic *šamāy-. This renders שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm a pluraletantum, simultaneously singular and plural. Therefore, "heaven" and "heavens"...
Bilboes (pluraletantum) are iron restraints normally placed on a person's ankles. They have commonly been used as leg shackles to restrain prisoners for...
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Wünsch. In the parlance of the South Slavs, in addition to the feminine pluraletantum "gusle" that has prevailed as a lexeme, even the older "gusli", which...
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such as the English scissors. These are referred to with the term pluraletantum. Occasionally, a plural form can pull double duty as the singular form...
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1 water aman (pluraletantum) 2 nose tinzaa (pluraletantum) 3 to run azzeř 4 fire timessi 5 mouth aqemmum, imi 6 tongue iřes 7 meat aysum ~ aksum 8 bone...
to reflect it has two legs; the word has no singular form (it is a pluraletantum). This construction is common in English and Italian (brache, plural...
"Cattle" can only be used in the plural and not in the singular: it is a pluraletantum. Thus one may refer to "three cattle" or "some cattle", but not "one...
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example dážď – dažďa, nôž – noža); in G pl, geographical names in pl. (pluraletantum) change the a / e / i / o / u (without an acute or a preceding i) in...
tool might be referred to as a caliper or as calipers — a plural only (pluraletantum) form, like scissors or glasses. Colloquially, the phrase "pair of verniers"...
developed true mass-noun senses despite having grown from count-noun roots. Pluraletantum – Noun that appears only in the plural form Rothstein, Susan (27 August...
provincial parliaments) of the seven provinces. In each States (a pluraletantum) sat representatives of the nobility and the cities (the clergy were...
members below. Some nouns have no singular form. Such a noun is called a pluraletantum. Examples include cattle, thanks, clothes (originally a plural of cloth)...
represented in the assembly that came to be known as Staten-Generaal (a pluraletantum), or Algemene Staten (General States).: 5–15 The English word "states"...
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