What is the plural form of 'Achilles(Achilles tendon)'?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, under Achilles tendon, it says that
- Achilles tendon = Achilles
Then the plural of 'Achilles tendon' is 'Achilles tendons'.
But, what is the plural form of "Achilles"?
grammar
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
add a comment |
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, under Achilles tendon, it says that
- Achilles tendon = Achilles
Then the plural of 'Achilles tendon' is 'Achilles tendons'.
But, what is the plural form of "Achilles"?
grammar
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
add a comment |
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, under Achilles tendon, it says that
- Achilles tendon = Achilles
Then the plural of 'Achilles tendon' is 'Achilles tendons'.
But, what is the plural form of "Achilles"?
grammar
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, under Achilles tendon, it says that
- Achilles tendon = Achilles
Then the plural of 'Achilles tendon' is 'Achilles tendons'.
But, what is the plural form of "Achilles"?
grammar
grammar
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
asked Dec 15 at 14:55
west wind
232
232
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Why should you want "the plural of Achilles"? Nouns (common or proper) used as the non-final element of compounds don't usually take a plural ending; and if they do, they always take it. They don't change when the whole phrase is plural:
kitchen unit -> kitchen units.
cable provider -> cable providers.
and
glasses case -> glasses cases.
If you really want to talk about more than one Achilles, then most people would say "Achilleses", but people often aren't sure how to write it. I suspect some people would say "two Achilles" (like "two series").
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
add a comment |
Google finds around a dozen hits for "two achilles are", and only one for "two achilleses are". So I would say the consensus is that the plural of Achilles is Achilles.
However pluralizing achilles is so rare that I assume most people who do it aren't copying the plural form from things they've heard, but coming up with it de novo. So I would be very heistant to call achilleses wrong.
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f477220%2fwhat-is-the-plural-form-of-achillesachilles-tendon%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Why should you want "the plural of Achilles"? Nouns (common or proper) used as the non-final element of compounds don't usually take a plural ending; and if they do, they always take it. They don't change when the whole phrase is plural:
kitchen unit -> kitchen units.
cable provider -> cable providers.
and
glasses case -> glasses cases.
If you really want to talk about more than one Achilles, then most people would say "Achilleses", but people often aren't sure how to write it. I suspect some people would say "two Achilles" (like "two series").
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
add a comment |
Why should you want "the plural of Achilles"? Nouns (common or proper) used as the non-final element of compounds don't usually take a plural ending; and if they do, they always take it. They don't change when the whole phrase is plural:
kitchen unit -> kitchen units.
cable provider -> cable providers.
and
glasses case -> glasses cases.
If you really want to talk about more than one Achilles, then most people would say "Achilleses", but people often aren't sure how to write it. I suspect some people would say "two Achilles" (like "two series").
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
add a comment |
Why should you want "the plural of Achilles"? Nouns (common or proper) used as the non-final element of compounds don't usually take a plural ending; and if they do, they always take it. They don't change when the whole phrase is plural:
kitchen unit -> kitchen units.
cable provider -> cable providers.
and
glasses case -> glasses cases.
If you really want to talk about more than one Achilles, then most people would say "Achilleses", but people often aren't sure how to write it. I suspect some people would say "two Achilles" (like "two series").
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
Why should you want "the plural of Achilles"? Nouns (common or proper) used as the non-final element of compounds don't usually take a plural ending; and if they do, they always take it. They don't change when the whole phrase is plural:
kitchen unit -> kitchen units.
cable provider -> cable providers.
and
glasses case -> glasses cases.
If you really want to talk about more than one Achilles, then most people would say "Achilleses", but people often aren't sure how to write it. I suspect some people would say "two Achilles" (like "two series").
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
answered Dec 15 at 15:21
Colin Fine
63.7k170160
63.7k170160
add a comment |
add a comment |
Google finds around a dozen hits for "two achilles are", and only one for "two achilleses are". So I would say the consensus is that the plural of Achilles is Achilles.
However pluralizing achilles is so rare that I assume most people who do it aren't copying the plural form from things they've heard, but coming up with it de novo. So I would be very heistant to call achilleses wrong.
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
add a comment |
Google finds around a dozen hits for "two achilles are", and only one for "two achilleses are". So I would say the consensus is that the plural of Achilles is Achilles.
However pluralizing achilles is so rare that I assume most people who do it aren't copying the plural form from things they've heard, but coming up with it de novo. So I would be very heistant to call achilleses wrong.
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
add a comment |
Google finds around a dozen hits for "two achilles are", and only one for "two achilleses are". So I would say the consensus is that the plural of Achilles is Achilles.
However pluralizing achilles is so rare that I assume most people who do it aren't copying the plural form from things they've heard, but coming up with it de novo. So I would be very heistant to call achilleses wrong.
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
Google finds around a dozen hits for "two achilles are", and only one for "two achilleses are". So I would say the consensus is that the plural of Achilles is Achilles.
However pluralizing achilles is so rare that I assume most people who do it aren't copying the plural form from things they've heard, but coming up with it de novo. So I would be very heistant to call achilleses wrong.
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
answered Dec 15 at 18:50
Peter Shor
61.6k5117220
61.6k5117220
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
add a comment |
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
2
2
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
Perhaps it's because words ending in unstressed /iz/ already "sound" plural: fillies, axis>axes, basis>bases, crisis>crises, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives me the willies.
– tchrist♦
Dec 15 at 19:03
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
@tchrist: that's probably why. And two additional words: species>species and series>series.
– Peter Shor
Dec 16 at 16:21
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
Besides those two you note from Latin’s 5ᵗʰ-declension, other examples invariant in the plural because of already ending in unstressed /iːz/ (UK) or /iz/ (US) are Pekinese for the dog and Siamese for the cat. As far as I can discern, ᴀʟʟ -ese demonyms and logonyms ending in unstressed /iz/ strongly resist (block?) further /ǝz/ inflections, whether to make them plural or to make them possessive. Same with Mercedes being invariant, be it car make or woman’s name. That’s why I believe these all operate under some kind of untaught sound law.
– tchrist♦
Dec 16 at 17:34
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f477220%2fwhat-is-the-plural-form-of-achillesachilles-tendon%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
