It's inconsistent and depends on the speaker. Octopuses makes the most sense based on common English pluralization rules. However, some people say octopi because many words of Latin origin end in -us in their singular and -i in their plural (due to Latin pluralization rules). However, octopus, despite its appearance, is actually of Greek origin. Technically the plural form of -pus is -podes (based on Greek rules), but that is not common knowledge and you would get weird looks if you said octopodes. I say octopuses.
Fun fact: the word platypus is also of Greek origin. So you can amuse yourself further with platypodes. Also, yes, I did just crib this from the last episode of Ologies.
The only reason anyone would ever say it at all is if they're pedantically referring to Greek, so you'd really have to actually pronounce it in a Greek way or it defeats the whole point.
English didn't get the word Octopus from Greek. We borrowed it from Latin, and Latin borrowed it from Greek. Latin speakers did use the word and did pluralize it as Octopi. So should we skip over the more recent use of Octopi to use the farther Octopodes? I think it a weak argument that Octopodes is more valid. Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes
Latin speakers did not pluralize octopus as octopi. If you have an example of that, Iâd love to see it. Octopi was a mistake made by English speakers later on.
The Latin plural -i applies to second-declension masculine nouns ending in -us. E.g., focus -> foci or cactus -> cacti. The -us ending for octopus is not because itâs a second-declension masculine noun. Itâs from the Greek root pous, meaning foot. Octo + pous -> octopus. The fact that it ends in -us is merely coincidental. In Greek, it was a third-declension noun, and in Latin, it was treated as a Greek loan word, and thus never would have had the -i plural form.
English speakers later on assumed that -us indicated it was a second-declension masculine noun, and thus incorrectly pluralized it to octopi.
Merriam Webster defends octopi because it is, famously, descriptivist, and so theyâre defending octopi because it was in use, even though itâs technically incorrect.
Ancient Latin speakers, as far as we know, didn't use octopus. They used polypus. (So did English until the 1700s). And polypus was a regular 2nd declension noun, regardless of the fact that it came from a 3rd declension Greek word. So actually ancient native speakers of Latin were also assuming that the -us was a second declension marker.
Perhaps we should call the Enlightenment scientists such as Linnaeus overzealous because they insisted on treating their Latin neologism octopus as 3rd declension instead of 2nd. Perhaps we should castigate Enlightenment English speakers for using the word octopus instead of the simpler octopod. In any case, to expect people to know relatively obscure plural forms (octopodes) is a strange demand. I prefer octopuses myself.
I just say Octopus as both singular and plural. It is one of those words that you just refreshed the sentence to get around. There were a lot of octopus ... There were many octopus.
Interesting. Itâs not common where I am, and to my ear sounds ignorant. But then again I did study Latin and Greek (and so did most of the people I know).
I disagree. People have been using âlayâ as an intransitive verb instead of âlieâ for decades, if not centuries, and thatâs still wrong. People get very excited about the descriptive/prescriptive thing but itâs not as straightforward as they think.
Basically, all three are considered correct, but people debate it anyway because they have preferences. "Octopi" and "octopuses" are the most common and are the safest bets.
Seems a bit weird to me to say that octopi is pretentious when it is commonly used and understood. Who cares if it has a weird etymology? It follows a simple trend:
radius -> radii
gladius -> gladii
cactus -> cacti
octopus -> octopi
This may not be the "correct" plural but it sounds nice to me and fits in with this pattern so I will keep on using it.
Whatâs wrong with âoctopusesâ? Anyone who says âoctopiâ is simultaneously trying to show they know how Latin plurals work and demonstrating to anyone who does know how Latin plurals work that they donât.
It's not that deep lol. I promise you the vast majority of people are not thinking about showing off knowledge of Latin plurals when they use the word "octopi" It's just a commonly used word accepted by society. Language is fluid and not always perfectly in line with expected rules.
Itâs honestly not accepted by anyone I know. But then again Iâm British. Either you know Latin or you donât. Either is fine. But trying to extrapolate the Latin second declension to other languages as a âtrendâ is weird. I always thought that when Americans referred to Lexuses as Lexi, they were making a joke. But now Iâm not so sure. How does this work with fourth declension nouns like domus?
I don't speak Latin or have any knowledge of how Latin plurals are formed. Where I live I have simply heard the form "octopi" used more frequently so that is the plural form I use. I promise I am not trying to be pretentious, in fact I think that telling other people that the plural is wrong because it doesn't follow the rules of Latin is actually somewhat pretentious.
You know, an apology means a promise not to do it again. Do you really intend to stop judging people for speaking in some way other than the one that you, personally, approve of?
Thatâs not what an apology means, and no, I do not
Intend to stop judging people for their use of language. Indeed, as a lawyer who frequently supervises junior lawyers, it would be professional misconduct in many cases for me not to do so. Now, there are better and worse ways of conveying that, of course.
You can judge people on how well they know the conventions of their profession and the rules of the organizations they work for, including the government, but judging someone for speaking the way their parents and all their friends speak in the privacy of their own homes or outside of a professional context is pretentious. I use octopuses, but if everyone a person knows uses octopi, then octopi is the right word for their social group regardless of the history, and itâs not pretentious.
If youâre a lawyer then youâre really supposed to know better than to equivocate like this. You know perfectly well that there is a difference between legal documents and Reddit comments. This sort of argument only serves to demean us both.
Anyone who says âoctopiâ is simultaneously trying to show they know how Latin plurals work and demonstrating to anyone who does know how Latin plurals work that they donât.
And anybody who says "herb" with an h is simultaneously trying to show they know how to read and demonstrating to anybody who knows that the word used to be spelled erb in English that they don't.
That's about it, right? It's not that people speak like the people around them, no, people only ever speak differently from you when they're trying to do a thing, and failing.
Edit: And by the way, this applies in your home country as well. People who say octopi in the UK aren't "trying" to do anything except talk. I can't imagine that it's a word that comes up very often, but honestly, people don't try that hard when they speak. Not anywhere.
Yeah I know the rule isn't consistent, but no rule in English is. I'm just saying I learned the plural of octopus was octopi and that fits in well with some other similar sounding words so I don't care.
You are wrong about octopi being wrong, and all the more pretentious for it. Read the link. English borrowed octopus from Latin, not Greek. So it was Greek before Latin, who cares.
The pronunciations represented may seem embarrassing to you, but they are accurately descriptive of common pronunciations of the word in the dialect of English being described, which is the goal/purpose of the document.
'Octopi' is technically incorrect because the base of the word is not actually Latin like some people think, not too huge of a mistake really and people would still know what you mean.
'Octopodes' is technically also correct because it's the correct Greek origin way of making plurals, but like, nobody uses that word. You'd just sound like a dork.
So octopuses is the way to go. The standard English way of making plurals and the accepted way in language today, also importantly how most people say it day to day.
I refuse to be embarrassed about dumb etymology in English so long as I remember that the French word for unicorn used to be unicorne but then people started thinking it was une icorne ("an icorn") and then started saying l'icorne ("the icorn") until they thought it was the whole word, so now the French for "a unicorn" is une licorne
I think this hits the right note. Unfortunately for me I learned Latin and Greek so I wince when I hear Latin plurals on Greek words ('syllabi' also makes my flesh crawl) but instead of the nice simple 'octopuses', people start trying to guess and we get 'octopi'. It's the pretension that makes it embarrassing.
Not as bad as 'virii' as a plural for 'virus' but that seems to have died out thankfully;)
What would the correct Greek pluralization of syllabus be? Syllabodes? Neat. But are there actual words of Greek origin that we pluralize the Greek way?
The âdâ is not in the ancient Greek singular nominative for foot (pous/ĎÎżĎĎ); the âdâ comes in for other declined forms (analogous to Latin pes â> pedes). But there is in the nominative in the modern Greek form ĎĎÎąĎĎδΚ!
'Syllabus' is a mess as it's a Late Latin word (mediaeval, I think) that pretends to be Greek. I don't think it appears in classical Greek or Latin ('syllabe', the closest match, is their word for 'syllable').
Greek plurals look very unfamiliar in English but the ones you're most likely to meet are words ending in -a as plurals (neuter nouns): 'phenomena' is one. But most of the ones we use came through Latin so it's hard to say which language we adopted them from.
Octopi would not be correct even if it were a Latin word because octopus was a 3rd declension noun in Latin, so even the Latin plural would be octopodes.
It's not Octopi, which is a common mistake because the word "Octopus" comes from Greek and they don't have the "I" rule for plurals. Compare this with a word like "Fungus", which is a Latin word, and pluralized is "Fungi".
It's pretty advanced English to know the root of any given word, so don't worry if that feels overwhelming. A lot of native English speakers don't get it right either. A lot of English speakers will encounter the word Octopus and will conclude Octopuses is too hard to say, or not very nice to say and therefore assume the correct word is Octopi, when it's not.
English didn't get the word Octopus from Greek. We borrowed it from Latin, and Latin borrowed it from Greek. Latin speakers did use the word and did pluralize it as Octopi. So should we skip over the more recent use of Octopi to use the farther Octopodes? I think it a weak argument that Octopodes is more valid. Source:Â https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes
Latin speakers did use the word and did pluralize it as Octopi.
No, they did not pluralize it as "octopi", and your source doesn't actually claim they did, either - it merely states that "octopus" had been borrowed into Latin before making it's way into English.
As has been mentioned, the -i plural is specific to second-declension masculine nouns. However, "octopus" in Greek was a third-declension masculine noun, and like other third-declension Greek nouns, it was borrowed into Latin's own third-declension (masculine plural ending -es), and retained the Greek plural form "octopodes".
In fact, the "-us" at the end of "octopus" is a false friend of the Latin masculine second-declension nominative singular ending "-us", caused by Ancient Greek's third-declension nominative (and vocative) singular ending "-s" obscuring the "d" at the end of the stem "octopod-" which is present in all other forms.
Folks who are saying âitâs not octopiâ are not being reasonable. Being etymologically inconsistent doesnât change the fact that vast numbers of native speakers (including educated ones) use it. You donât have to like it, but itâs perfectly cromulent.
For the learners, I recommend you stick to âoctopuses,â but donât let anyone tell you âoctopiâ is incorrect.
The most correct option would be "octopodes" because of the word's Greek origin. However, nobody speaks like that.
So go with either "octopuses" or "octopi" - the second option uses a Latin plural for a Greek word which is etymologically wrong, but English has many nonsensical latinized terms, so who cares?
You'd say "octopuses, octopi?" and then have a quick laugh with who you're talking to because the people you're talking to know what you mean, octopus-plural, but they don't know what's correct either and both options sounds weird and wrong.
If you work as a chef or at an aquarium or somewhere else where there is regularly more than one octopus needing to be talked about, you'd just hear what people say and then do that.
Regardless of what was more correct originally, I would say âoctopiâ is the most common, at least among millennial and Gen Z Americans. âOctopusesâ is also common (especially among older generations and professionals) and is widely understood. Nobody outside of Reddit uses âoctopodes,â and it would not necessarily be understood.
Many words in English have the Regular Plural and the Pretentious Plural, in this case octopuses and octopi, respectively. There are lots of other words like this, usually words borrowed from other languages: we can pluralize them the way we pluralize most everything else in English, by adding an s at the end; or we can show off how knowledgeable we are about world languages by pluralizing the way the word would be pluralized in its original language.
Other examples (singular/regular plural/pretentious plural):
Concerto/concertoes/concerti
Enema/enemas/enemata
Cactus/cactuses/cacti
Tableau/tableaus/tableaux
Formula/formulas/formulae
Etc etc
As others have pointed out, octopus is a bit unique in that it also has the Very Pretentious Plural: octopodes, for people who want to show off that they know the word came from Greek via Latin.
My classics teacher at school said that technically the âcorrectâ plural was octopoddi, definitely not octopi, as the etymology was Greek, not Latin. âBut of course, the plural is octopuses, because itâs an English word.â
This common-sense answer has always stuck with me.
some say octopi
its the oldest form that comes from the belief that latin words should have latin endings even if it was NOT of latin origin (the word is of greek origin, and was later latinized / made more latin sounding)
Most say octopuses,
That was after octopi and was from standard -s/-es ending for pluralization in English
Some say octopodes
theyâre rare but it comes from the fact that octopus is of greek origin (eight - octo & foot - pod)
I hate that theres 3 forms too, makes no sense to us dont worry
Source: merrium webster and the ocean conservancy on the pluralization of octopus
Native English speakers debate the plural of octopus.
The argument for "octopuses" is that it follows standard pluralization rules and will be easily understood.
The argument for "octopi" is that English speakers commonly use "octopi" for the plural of "octopus," and that "octopus" is used in scientific Latin and should use Latin pluralization.
The argument for "octopodes" is that octopus is from Greek "octopous" and should use Greek pluralization. "Octopodes" is uncommon.
"Octopi" and "octopuses" are commonly used. "Octopodes" sounds a little bit nerdy. (I personally use octopodes or octopuses.)
Octopus, Octopuses, and Octopi are all correct pluralizations of Octopus. it doesnât even depend on context either, you can say any of them and be right
Octopi is actually the 'least proper' because it's based on a misconception that it's a latin word. It's not, it's Greek & the Greek plural of -pus is -podes.
Octopuses is safest, the regular English plural, because so few people know the Greek version that you just get stared at ;)
It's inconsistent and depends on the speaker. Octopuses makes the most sense based on common English pluralization rules. However, some people say octopi because many words of Latin origin end in -us in their singular and -i in their plural (due to Latin pluralization rules). However, octopus, despite its appearance, is actually of Greek origin. Technically the plural form of -pus is -podes (based on Greek rules), but that is not common knowledge and you would get weird looks if you said octopodes. I say octopuses.
I say octopodes, but mostly to be pedantic and amuse myself.
Fun fact: the word platypus is also of Greek origin. So you can amuse yourself further with platypodes. Also, yes, I did just crib this from the last episode of Ologies.
It's just so fun, isn't it?
Me, too! đ
Now this is the kind of pedantry up with which I will not put.
Do you say octo-p-oh-ds or octo-po-dees?
Not the one you asked, but I say oc-TOP-uh-dees... because it sounds cool.
Oc-TOP-uh-dees is correct. Think Euripides, the Greek playwright.
Alternatively, if it's easier, octop-o-deez nuts.
Ditto
Now the real question, is it pronounced oc - ti - pohdz or oc- Tip - ih - deez ?
Ok-top-oh-deez
The only reason anyone would ever say it at all is if they're pedantically referring to Greek, so you'd really have to actually pronounce it in a Greek way or it defeats the whole point.
God that really sets up the kind of deez nuts jokes
The real question is do you pronounce it octo-podes or oct-opodes
Saying ok-ta-poe-deez will get you lit up real quick by a native speaker hahaha.
Octo poe DEEZ NUTS!
Gottem!
obviously it's oct-TI-po-deez
A native speaker of which language?
English was implied.
You could always call two octopuses a hexadecipus.
I'm fairly certain that OP just walked in here and dropped this to see the fireworks; like bringing up Poe's Orangutan at a literary convention.
English didn't get the word Octopus from Greek. We borrowed it from Latin, and Latin borrowed it from Greek.
Latin speakers did use the word and did pluralize it as Octopi.So should we skip over the more recent use of Octopi to use the farther Octopodes? I think it a weak argument that Octopodes is more valid. Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodesPractically, I also say octopuses.
Latin speakers did not pluralize octopus as octopi. If you have an example of that, Iâd love to see it. Octopi was a mistake made by English speakers later on.
The Latin plural -i applies to second-declension masculine nouns ending in -us. E.g., focus -> foci or cactus -> cacti. The -us ending for octopus is not because itâs a second-declension masculine noun. Itâs from the Greek root pous, meaning foot. Octo + pous -> octopus. The fact that it ends in -us is merely coincidental. In Greek, it was a third-declension noun, and in Latin, it was treated as a Greek loan word, and thus never would have had the -i plural form.
English speakers later on assumed that -us indicated it was a second-declension masculine noun, and thus incorrectly pluralized it to octopi.
Merriam Webster defends octopi because it is, famously, descriptivist, and so theyâre defending octopi because it was in use, even though itâs technically incorrect.
Ancient Latin speakers, as far as we know, didn't use octopus. They used polypus. (So did English until the 1700s). And polypus was a regular 2nd declension noun, regardless of the fact that it came from a 3rd declension Greek word. So actually ancient native speakers of Latin were also assuming that the -us was a second declension marker.
Perhaps we should call the Enlightenment scientists such as Linnaeus overzealous because they insisted on treating their Latin neologism octopus as 3rd declension instead of 2nd. Perhaps we should castigate Enlightenment English speakers for using the word octopus instead of the simpler octopod. In any case, to expect people to know relatively obscure plural forms (octopodes) is a strange demand. I prefer octopuses myself.
Octopode is funnier sounding though
I say octopodes (and platypodes) because I think it's fun to say
I say octopodes so i can make a deez nuts joke
Also, the suffix -podes is pronounced pod-ees
I just say Octopus as both singular and plural. It is one of those words that you just refreshed the sentence to get around. There were a lot of octopus ... There were many octopus.
Octopuses, octopi, or octopodes (the last one doesn't seem to be all that common).
I use octopodes because it's correct but people say octopi.
It also just rolls off the tongue better, once you get used to it.
Why
"Octopi" is probably the best overall because "Octopuses" is technical correct but sounds like a bad word
I liked to use "Octopuses" because I get to correct the people who try to correct me
I like to use âoctopussiesâ because I like to assert dominance on the subject from the outset.
Maud Adams has joined the conversation
Iâd say âoctopiâ is the worst overall, because itâs just wrong.
It is etymologically wrong but it's more common than octopodes and sounds better than octopuses.
Interesting. Itâs not common where I am, and to my ear sounds ignorant. But then again I did study Latin and Greek (and so did most of the people I know).
If itâs in such widespread use then itâs not wrong.
I disagree. People have been using âlayâ as an intransitive verb instead of âlieâ for decades, if not centuries, and thatâs still wrong. People get very excited about the descriptive/prescriptive thing but itâs not as straightforward as they think.
Well, thatâs one opinion.
I don't know what version of English you speak, but "octopuses" in British English doesn't sound like the bad word I believe you're thinking about.
This article covers it: Plural of Octopus: Octopi vs. Octopuses vs. Octopodes | Merriam-Webster
Basically, all three are considered correct, but people debate it anyway because they have preferences. "Octopi" and "octopuses" are the most common and are the safest bets.
Octopi is the worst. Itâs just wrong, and itâs also pretentious.
Seems a bit weird to me to say that octopi is pretentious when it is commonly used and understood. Who cares if it has a weird etymology? It follows a simple trend:
radius -> radii
gladius -> gladii
cactus -> cacti
octopus -> octopi
This may not be the "correct" plural but it sounds nice to me and fits in with this pattern so I will keep on using it.
Whatâs wrong with âoctopusesâ? Anyone who says âoctopiâ is simultaneously trying to show they know how Latin plurals work and demonstrating to anyone who does know how Latin plurals work that they donât.
It's not that deep lol. I promise you the vast majority of people are not thinking about showing off knowledge of Latin plurals when they use the word "octopi" It's just a commonly used word accepted by society. Language is fluid and not always perfectly in line with expected rules.
Itâs honestly not accepted by anyone I know. But then again Iâm British. Either you know Latin or you donât. Either is fine. But trying to extrapolate the Latin second declension to other languages as a âtrendâ is weird. I always thought that when Americans referred to Lexuses as Lexi, they were making a joke. But now Iâm not so sure. How does this work with fourth declension nouns like domus?
Americans are no more likely to know Latin than Brits.
I don't speak Latin or have any knowledge of how Latin plurals are formed. Where I live I have simply heard the form "octopi" used more frequently so that is the plural form I use. I promise I am not trying to be pretentious, in fact I think that telling other people that the plural is wrong because it doesn't follow the rules of Latin is actually somewhat pretentious.
Interesting. And I apologise if Iâm being judgmental. Itâs a bit of a shibboleth in the UK. (Like saying âhaitchâ instead of âaitchâ).
You know, an apology means a promise not to do it again. Do you really intend to stop judging people for speaking in some way other than the one that you, personally, approve of?
Thatâs not what an apology means, and no, I do not Intend to stop judging people for their use of language. Indeed, as a lawyer who frequently supervises junior lawyers, it would be professional misconduct in many cases for me not to do so. Now, there are better and worse ways of conveying that, of course.
You can judge people on how well they know the conventions of their profession and the rules of the organizations they work for, including the government, but judging someone for speaking the way their parents and all their friends speak in the privacy of their own homes or outside of a professional context is pretentious. I use octopuses, but if everyone a person knows uses octopi, then octopi is the right word for their social group regardless of the history, and itâs not pretentious.
If youâre a lawyer then youâre really supposed to know better than to equivocate like this. You know perfectly well that there is a difference between legal documents and Reddit comments. This sort of argument only serves to demean us both.
And anybody who says "herb" with an h is simultaneously trying to show they know how to read and demonstrating to anybody who knows that the word used to be spelled erb in English that they don't.
That's about it, right? It's not that people speak like the people around them, no, people only ever speak differently from you when they're trying to do a thing, and failing.
Edit: And by the way, this applies in your home country as well. People who say octopi in the UK aren't "trying" to do anything except talk. I can't imagine that it's a word that comes up very often, but honestly, people don't try that hard when they speak. Not anywhere.
school bus -> school bi.
Yeah I know the rule isn't consistent, but no rule in English is. I'm just saying I learned the plural of octopus was octopi and that fits in well with some other similar sounding words so I don't care.
You make a strong argument, gonna pass this to the group chat and try to get school bi going
You are wrong about octopi being wrong, and all the more pretentious for it. Read the link. English borrowed octopus from Latin, not Greek. So it was Greek before Latin, who cares.
The plural of octopus in Latin was also octopodes.
Itâs fucking Merriam Webster! Are you American? Yeah.
Thatâs Merriam Webster, though. Look at how embarrassing this is: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chaise%20lounge
The pronunciations represented may seem embarrassing to you, but they are accurately descriptive of common pronunciations of the word in the dialect of English being described, which is the goal/purpose of the document.
Octopuses.
'Octopi' is technically incorrect because the base of the word is not actually Latin like some people think, not too huge of a mistake really and people would still know what you mean.
'Octopodes' is technically also correct because it's the correct Greek origin way of making plurals, but like, nobody uses that word. You'd just sound like a dork.
So octopuses is the way to go. The standard English way of making plurals and the accepted way in language today, also importantly how most people say it day to day.
âOctopiâ isnât incorrect, since native speakers use and accept it. Itâs just a bit embarrassing etymologically.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octopus
I refuse to be embarrassed about dumb etymology in English so long as I remember that the French word for unicorn used to be unicorne but then people started thinking it was une icorne ("an icorn") and then started saying l'icorne ("the icorn") until they thought it was the whole word, so now the French for "a unicorn" is une licorne
I think this hits the right note. Unfortunately for me I learned Latin and Greek so I wince when I hear Latin plurals on Greek words ('syllabi' also makes my flesh crawl) but instead of the nice simple 'octopuses', people start trying to guess and we get 'octopi'. It's the pretension that makes it embarrassing.
Not as bad as 'virii' as a plural for 'virus' but that seems to have died out thankfully;)
What would the correct Greek pluralization of syllabus be? Syllabodes? Neat. But are there actual words of Greek origin that we pluralize the Greek way?
It would be 'syllabuses'. The letter 'd' in 'octopodes' is there because the singular in Greek was 'octopod'.
The âdâ is not in the ancient Greek singular nominative for foot (pous/ĎÎżĎĎ); the âdâ comes in for other declined forms (analogous to Latin pes â> pedes). But there is in the nominative in the modern Greek form ĎĎÎąĎĎδΚ!
'Syllabus' is a mess as it's a Late Latin word (mediaeval, I think) that pretends to be Greek. I don't think it appears in classical Greek or Latin ('syllabe', the closest match, is their word for 'syllable').
Greek plurals look very unfamiliar in English but the ones you're most likely to meet are words ending in -a as plurals (neuter nouns): 'phenomena' is one. But most of the ones we use came through Latin so it's hard to say which language we adopted them from.
⌠I say octopodes
Octopuses feels dirty
Exactly. Similarly, âreferendumsâ is fine, and so is âagendasâ even though itâs horrible if youâre a classicist.
Octopi is a Greek word, but English didn't borrow it from them. We got it from Latin, who got it from Greek.
The Latin choice is not incorrect. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes
Practically, say octopuses.
Agree 100%. Use octopuses.
If you DO decide to use ocTOPodes, be sure to put the stress on the antepenultimate syllable! :-)
Octopi would not be correct even if it were a Latin word because octopus was a 3rd declension noun in Latin, so even the Latin plural would be octopodes.
Octopuses, octupodes, or octupi will all be understood. Octupi is probably the least correct, but no one cares.
There is a very old joke:
A zookeeper is sending a letter to ask another zoo for some animals for their new exhibit. She starts her letter:
"Dear Mr. Smith, Could you please send us two mongooses "
then stops thinking that looks wrong and tries again
"Dear Mr. Smith, Could you please send us two mongeese "
and stops again and ends at
"Dear Mr. Smith, Could you please send us a mongoose. And while you're at it, send us another one, too."
You could have a similar joke for octopuses.
Octopuses, or if you're fancy, Octopodes.
It's not Octopi, which is a common mistake because the word "Octopus" comes from Greek and they don't have the "I" rule for plurals. Compare this with a word like "Fungus", which is a Latin word, and pluralized is "Fungi".
It's pretty advanced English to know the root of any given word, so don't worry if that feels overwhelming. A lot of native English speakers don't get it right either. A lot of English speakers will encounter the word Octopus and will conclude Octopuses is too hard to say, or not very nice to say and therefore assume the correct word is Octopi, when it's not.
And fwiw, Iâm not bothered if people say âfungusesâ.
English didn't get the word Octopus from Greek. We borrowed it from Latin, and Latin borrowed it from Greek.
Latin speakers did use the word and did pluralize it as Octopi.So should we skip over the more recent use of Octopi to use the farther Octopodes? I think it a weak argument that Octopodes is more valid. Source:Â https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodesPractically, I also say octopuses.
No, they did not pluralize it as "octopi", and your source doesn't actually claim they did, either - it merely states that "octopus" had been borrowed into Latin before making it's way into English.
As has been mentioned, the -i plural is specific to second-declension masculine nouns. However, "octopus" in Greek was a third-declension masculine noun, and like other third-declension Greek nouns, it was borrowed into Latin's own third-declension (masculine plural ending -es), and retained the Greek plural form "octopodes".
In fact, the "-us" at the end of "octopus" is a false friend of the Latin masculine second-declension nominative singular ending "-us", caused by Ancient Greek's third-declension nominative (and vocative) singular ending "-s" obscuring the "d" at the end of the stem "octopod-" which is present in all other forms.
Folks who are saying âitâs not octopiâ are not being reasonable. Being etymologically inconsistent doesnât change the fact that vast numbers of native speakers (including educated ones) use it. You donât have to like it, but itâs perfectly cromulent.
For the learners, I recommend you stick to âoctopuses,â but donât let anyone tell you âoctopiâ is incorrect.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=octopi%2Coctopuses&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octopus
Bell curve meme: "it's octopi"/"it's octopuses or octopodes"/"it's octopi"
This was a most embiggening response
Normally we just say octopuses. I haven't heard any other way of saying it
My wife worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (with a ton of marine biologists), they say Octopuses.
"I haven't heard any other way of saying it" That is an obvious lie, however, you responded with the correct answer, so you still get an upvote.
I do not believe for one minute that youâve never heard âoctopiâ.
I mean, I don't know about USA, but nobody in Britain uses the word octopi
Please go say that on this subthread.
Might just be a preference depending on what part of the UK then, cause north and south are completely different how they talk
Anything but octopi
The most correct option would be "octopodes" because of the word's Greek origin. However, nobody speaks like that.
So go with either "octopuses" or "octopi" - the second option uses a Latin plural for a Greek word which is etymologically wrong, but English has many nonsensical latinized terms, so who cares?
"Hey look, it's more than one octopus."
Always a fan of octopodes.
Obviously its octopussy
"octopuses" or "octopodes".
Octopodes would be consist with the Greek origin, however in English the most normal sounding is octopuses
octopode*s*...
You'd say "octopuses, octopi?" and then have a quick laugh with who you're talking to because the people you're talking to know what you mean, octopus-plural, but they don't know what's correct either and both options sounds weird and wrong.
If you work as a chef or at an aquarium or somewhere else where there is regularly more than one octopus needing to be talked about, you'd just hear what people say and then do that.
Regardless of what was more correct originally, I would say âoctopiâ is the most common, at least among millennial and Gen Z Americans. âOctopusesâ is also common (especially among older generations and professionals) and is widely understood. Nobody outside of Reddit uses âoctopodes,â and it would not necessarily be understood.
I would say Octopi lol
Many words in English have the Regular Plural and the Pretentious Plural, in this case octopuses and octopi, respectively. There are lots of other words like this, usually words borrowed from other languages: we can pluralize them the way we pluralize most everything else in English, by adding an s at the end; or we can show off how knowledgeable we are about world languages by pluralizing the way the word would be pluralized in its original language.
Other examples (singular/regular plural/pretentious plural):
Concerto/concertoes/concerti
Enema/enemas/enemata
Cactus/cactuses/cacti
Tableau/tableaus/tableaux
Formula/formulas/formulae
Etc etc
As others have pointed out, octopus is a bit unique in that it also has the Very Pretentious Plural: octopodes, for people who want to show off that they know the word came from Greek via Latin.
The one that drives me crazy:
Forum/forums/fora
It's like referendum/referendums/referenda, isn't it?
I donât think cacti is pretentious lol
Octopi
lol you posted before reading the thread, didn't you;)
i'm a native english speaker and i have no clue. i either hear octopuses or octopi, though i think it's octopuses
My classics teacher at school said that technically the âcorrectâ plural was octopoddi, definitely not octopi, as the etymology was Greek, not Latin. âBut of course, the plural is octopuses, because itâs an English word.â
This common-sense answer has always stuck with me.
Octopuses
some say octopi its the oldest form that comes from the belief that latin words should have latin endings even if it was NOT of latin origin (the word is of greek origin, and was later latinized / made more latin sounding)
Most say octopuses, That was after octopi and was from standard -s/-es ending for pluralization in English
Some say octopodes theyâre rare but it comes from the fact that octopus is of greek origin (eight - octo & foot - pod)
I hate that theres 3 forms too, makes no sense to us dont worry
Source: merrium webster and the ocean conservancy on the pluralization of octopus
Native English speakers debate the plural of octopus.
The argument for "octopuses" is that it follows standard pluralization rules and will be easily understood.
The argument for "octopi" is that English speakers commonly use "octopi" for the plural of "octopus," and that "octopus" is used in scientific Latin and should use Latin pluralization.
The argument for "octopodes" is that octopus is from Greek "octopous" and should use Greek pluralization. "Octopodes" is uncommon.
"Octopi" and "octopuses" are commonly used. "Octopodes" sounds a little bit nerdy. (I personally use octopodes or octopuses.)
Use octopi. Im in northern US and its standard here. When I hear the word "octopuses" it sounds like "gooses" to me. Understandable, but odd.
Octopuses
Octopi
Octopodes
Just "octopus"
Take your pick.
Octopuses!
Octopuses because we're speaking English, not Greek.
Im a marine biology major who took marine zoology last semester and was taught that octopuses is correct.
Ock-Top-Oh-Daze of course
OCTOPODES FYW!
Octopuses is the correct term.
The real answer is octopuses, but if English made sense (which it doesn't), then it would be octopi
I prefer the term "Octopodes" because it follows the plurality conventions of the -pus suffix.
Octopussies
Octoplural
Octopussies
Kidding. Octopi
octopuses
Octopus, Octopuses, and Octopi are all correct pluralizations of Octopus. it doesnât even depend on context either, you can say any of them and be right
Octopi, personally, but it can differ.
"Octopi" and "octopuses" are both common, "octopodes" would make me roll my eyes
Octopi
I'd say octopi is most common, but all 3 are valid
Octopodes
The most common and "proper" plural is octopi, but octopuses is an alternative.
Octopi is actually the 'least proper' because it's based on a misconception that it's a latin word. It's not, it's Greek & the Greek plural of -pus is -podes.
Octopuses is safest, the regular English plural, because so few people know the Greek version that you just get stared at ;)
My apologies. I thought it was the other way round, that "octopi" was the original plural and "octupuses" slipped in as a regularisation.
Creampie