plural

See also: Plural and plurál

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, grammar): pl.

Etymology

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), borrowed from Latin pluralis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plus, pluris (“more”) + -alis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplʊə.ɹəl/, /ˈplɔː.ɹəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: pleural

Adjective

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

1. Consisting of or containing more than one of something. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlmen of Verona:

     Than plural faith which is too much by one: Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

2. (comparable) Pluralistic.
   • 1987, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, editor, The Encyclopedia of religion, volume 3:

     Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups

   • 2006, Suisheng Zhao, Debating political reform in China: rule of law vs. democratization, page 29:

     The Hong Kong and Singapore markets are way more "plural" than most Western economies, but they have not led to pluralistic politics.

   • 2007, Lachelle Renee Hannickel, From cultural transgressions to literary transformations: ..., page 195:

     History is perhaps more plural than traditionally imagined, leaving room for more groups to express their story.

   • 2009, Pille Valk, Teenagers' perspectives on the role of religion in their lives, ..., page 281:

     Generally the girls tend to perceive their social world as somewhat more plural than boys do. Several of these questions reveal that there are more boys (61%) than girls (39%) who 'do not know' about the religion of others

   • 2011, Harald E. Braun with Edward Vallance, The Renaissance Conscience, page 50:

     Yet More's conscience was responding to a world just a little more plural than the world he was born in

Synonyms

• manifold
• multiple
• morefold
• several

Antonyms

• singular

Translations

more than one

• Albanian: shumës (sq)
• Armenian: հոգնակի (hy) (hognaki)
• Catalan: plural (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複數／复数 (zh) (fùshù), 复数 (zh) (fùshù), 眾數／众数 (zh) (zhòngshù), 众数 (zh) (zhòngshù)

• Dutch: meervoudig (nl), meervoudige (nl)
• Esperanto: plurnombra
• Finnish: monikollinen (fi), monikko-
• French: pluriel (fr)
• Galician: plural (gl) m
• German: Plural-, pluralisch (de), plural (de), mehrfach (de), Mehrzahl-
• Greek: πληθυντικός (el) (plithyntikós)

  Ancient: πληθυντικός (plēthuntikós)

• Hebrew: לשון רבים (lišon rabim)
• Icelandic: fleir-, marg-, fleirtölu-, í fleirtölu
• Ido: plurala (io)
• Indonesian: jamak (id)
• Irish: iolra (ga)
• Italian: plurale (it)
• Japanese: 複数 (ja) (ふくすう, fukusū)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 복수 (ko) (boksu)
• Latin: plūrālis
• Ligurian: plurâle
• Occitan: plural
• Polish: mnogi (pl)
• Portuguese: plural (pt)
• Romanian: plural (ro)
• Russian: мно́жественный (ru) (mnóžestvennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: iolra
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: множински, плурални

  Roman: množinski (sh), pluralni (sh)

• Spanish: plural (es)
• Swedish: plural (sv), flertal (sv)
• Thai: พหูพจน์ (th) (pá-hǔu-pót)
• Turkish: çok (tr)
• Ukrainian: чисельний (čyselʹnyj)
• Volapük: plunumik (vo)
• Walloon: pluriyal (wa)

Noun

plural (plural plurals)

1. (grammar, uncountable) The plural number.
   • 1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:

     "There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."

2. (grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.

Usage notes

• Many languages have singular for one item and plural for more than one item. Some languages also have a dual form for two, a trial form for three, or a paucal form for several (e.g. Fijian). Other languages do not distinguish any of these categories.
• While the plural form generally refers to two or more persons or things, that is not always the case. The plural form is often used for zero persons or things, for fractional things in a quantity greater than one, and for people or things when the quantity is unknown.
• In English, the plural is most often formed simply by adding the letter "s" to the end of a noun, e.g. apple/apples. There are many exceptions, however, such as echo/echoes, mouse/mice, child/children, deer/deer (same word), etc.

Antonyms

• singular

Translations

the plural number

• Arabic: الْجَمْع (ar) (al-jamʕ)
• Belarusian: мно́жны лік m (mnóžny lik)
• Bulgarian: мно́жествено число́ n (mnóžestveno čisló)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複數／复数 (zh) (fùshù), 复数 (zh) (fùshù), 眾數／众数 (zh) (zhòngshù), 众数 (zh) (zhòngshù)

• Esperanto: multenombro (eo)
• French: pluriel (fr) m
• Galician: plural (gl) m
• German: Mehrheit (de) f, Mehrzahl (de) f, Plural (de) m, Pluralis m
• Hungarian: többes szám (hu)
• Japanese: 複数 (ja) (ふくすう, fukusū)
• Korean: 복수 (ko) (boksu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: (numerus (la)) pluralis, numerus multitudinis, multitudo (la), pluralitas
• Macedonian: множина f (množina)
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} máŋggaidlohku
• Portuguese: plural (pt) m
• Russian: мно́жественное число́ (ru) n (mnóžestvennoje čisló)
• Slovak: množné číslo, plurál (sk)
• Slovene: množina (sl) f
• Tagalog: maramihan
• Ukrainian: множина́ (uk) f (množyná)
• Uyghur: كۆپلۈك سان (köplük san)
• Vietnamese: số nhiều (vi)
• Walloon: pluriyal (wa) m
• Yiddish: מערצאָל f (mertsol)

word in plural form

• Albanian: shumës (sq)
• Arabic: جَمْع (ar) (jamʕ)
• Armenian: հոգնակի թիվ (hy) (hognaki tʻiv), հոգնակի (hy) (hognaki)
• Belarusian: мно́жны лік m (mnóžny lik)
• Bulgarian: мно́жествено число́ n (mnóžestveno čisló)
• Burmese: ဗဟုဝုစ်ကိန်း (my) (ba.hu.wuckin:)
• Catalan: plural (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複數／复数 (zh) (fùshù), 复数 (zh) (fùshù), 眾數／众数 (zh) (zhòngshù), 众数 (zh) (zhòngshù)

• Czech: množné číslo (cs) n
• Dutch: meervoud (nl) n
• Estonian: mitmus (et)
• Faroese: fleirtal (fo) n
• Finnish: monikko (fi)
• French: pluriel (fr) m
• Galician: plural (gl) m
• Georgian: მრავლობითი (ka) (mravlobiti), მრავლობითი რიცხვი (mravlobiti ricxvi)
• German: Plural (de) m, Pluralform (de) f
• Greek: πληθυντικός (el) m (plithyntikós)
• Hindi: बहुवचन (hi) m (bahuvcan)
• Hungarian: többes számú alak
• Icelandic: fleirtala (is) f
• Indonesian: bentuk jamak
• Ingrian: monikko
• Italian: plurale (it) m
• Japanese: 複数形 (ja) (ふくすうけい, fukusūkei), 複数 (ja) (ふくすう, fukusū)
• Khmer: ពហុវចនៈ (pĕəʼhuʼ vaccaʼnaʼ)
• Korean: 복수형 (boksuhyeong), 복수 (ko) (boksu)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Lao: ພະຫຸພົດ (pha hu phot)
• Latvian: daudzskaitlis m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Luxembourgish: Pluriel m, Méizuel (lb) f
• Macedonian: множина f (množina)
• Middle Persian: ws
• Mongolian: олон тоо (olon too)
• Navajo: díkwíjíltʼéego, naaki dóó baʼąą, tááʼ dóó baʼąą
• Norman: pluriel m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flertall (no) n

• Occitan: plural m
• Old English: maniġfeald
• Persian: جمع (fa) (jam')
• Polish: liczba mnoga (pl) f
• Portuguese: plural (pt) m
• Romanian: plural (ro) n
• Russian: мно́жественное число́ (ru) n (mnóžestvennoje čisló)
• Scottish Gaelic: iolra m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: множина f, плурал m

  Roman: množina (sh) f, plural (sh) m

• Slovak: množné číslo n, plurál (sk) m
• Slovene: množina (sl) f
• Spanish: plural (es) m
• Swahili: wingi (sw)
• Swedish: plural (sv) n, pluralis (sv) n
• Tajik: ҷамъ (tg) (jamʾ)
• Telugu: బహువచనము (te) (bahuvacanamu)
• Thai: พหูพจน์ (th) (pá-hǔu-pót)
• Turkish: çoğul (tr), çokluk (tr)
• Ukrainian: множина́ (uk) f (množyná)
• Vietnamese: số nhiều (vi)
• Volapük: plunum (vo)
• Votic: mõnikko
• Walloon: pluriyal (wa) m
• West Frisian: meartal (fy) n

See also

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, quintal, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}

---

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [pluˈɾal]

Adjective

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurals)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

Noun

plural m (plural plurals)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

Derived terms

• pluralisme
• pluralista

Related terms

• pluralitat

Further reading

• “plural” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “plural”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “plural” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “plural” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ply.ʁal/

Adjective

plural (feminine plurale, masculine plural pluraux, feminine plural plurales)

1. plural, large

Related terms

• pluralisme
• pluraliste
• pluralité
• pluri-
• pluriel

Further reading

• “plural”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Noun

plural m or f (plural plurais)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

Derived terms

• pluralismo
• pluralista

Related terms

• pluralidade

Further reading

• “plural”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012

---

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pluˈʁaːl/

Adjective

plural (not comparable)

1. pluralistic

Synonyms

• (pluralistic): pluralistisch

References

• “plural” in Duden online

---

Maltese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plʊˈrɐːl/

Noun

1. (grammar) plural

---

Middle English

Adjective

plural

1. Alternative form of plurelle

---

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Noun

plural m (plural plurals)

1. plural

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pluˈɾaw/
• IPA^(key): /pluˈɾal/

Adjective

1. plural (consisting of more than one things)

   Antonym: singular

Noun

plural m (plural plurais)

1. (grammar) plural (word referring to multiple things)

   Antonym: singular

Derived terms

• pluralismo
• pluralista

Related terms

• pluralidade

Further reading

• Template:R:Priberam

---

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plǔraːl/
• Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Noun

plùrāl m (Cyrillic spelling плу̀ра̄л)

1. (uncountable) plural

Declension

Declension of plural

	singular	plural
nominative	plùrāl	plurali
genitive	plurála	plurala
dative	pluralu	pluralima
accusative	plural	plurale
vocative	plurale	plurali
locative	pluralu	pluralima
instrumental	pluralom	pluralima

Synonyms

• množìna

---

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pluˈɾal/ [pluˈɾal]

Adjective

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurales)

1. plural, multiple

   Antonym: singular

Noun

plural m (plural plurales)

1. (grammar) plural

   Antonym: singular

Derived terms

• pluralismo
• pluralista

Related terms

• pluralidad

Further reading

• “plural”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014