broken plural
English
Etymology
Calque of Arabic جَمْع مُكَسَّر (jamʕ mukassar).
Noun
broken plural (plural broken plurals)
- An irregular plural formed by changing the pattern of consonants and vowels inside the singular form, found in the Semitic languages and other Afroasiatic languages such as Berber. An example in Arabic is مَكَاتِب (makātib, “desks”), the plural form of مَكْتَب (maktab, “desk”).
- Antonym: sound plural
Translations
in Arabic and other languages, irregular plural formed by changing the pattern of consonants and vowels
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