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by donovan reynolds. on August 6th, 2006

donovan reynolds.

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If the plural of "goose" is "geese", then why don't we say the plural of "moose" as "meese"? Also, with hippopotamus, why isn't that hippopotami? Cactus is cacti.

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Answers. 11 helpful answers below.

  • by Roger Kovaciny on August 7th, 2006

    Roger Kovaciny

    Goose comes from German, and in German it often happens that an OO in the root becomes an EE in the plural--goose, geese; foot, feet. (The reason is that the plural ending in German is also an E sound, and it's easier to say EE-E than OO-E.)

    The moose, however, is an American animal so it doesn't follow the German pattern. And the mongoose is an Asian animal so it doesn't either--plural of mongoose is "mongooses."

    In an environment where everyone knows Latin or Greek, people DO say hippopotami, but since most people don't these days, it makes you sound like a stuffed shirt.

    Most of the irregularities in English come from the fact that virtually all of our words were borrowed from other languages with different rules for things like how to form plurals.

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  • by Darryl61 on August 7th, 2006

    Darryl61

    A word's origin determines it's plural form, not it's spelling. Moose and goose would not necessarily have the same plurals. Also, according to Webster's, the accepted plural of hippopotamus IS hippopotami! :)

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  • by andywho on August 8th, 2006

    andywho

    My favorites are when there are more than plural of a species of animal. I love a "murder of crows" and a "parliment of owls".

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  • by yoho05 reminds you to DYOH on August 7th, 2006

    yoho05 reminds you to DYOH

    Is the plural of delphinium 'delphinii' or 'delphinia?'

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  • by Vaporeongirl on October 7th, 2009

    Vaporeongirl

    Nobody knows, it's just weird linguistic inconsistencies. Don't torture yourself over it.

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  • by CaRbOnPrOdUcK is Baccuss on April 19th, 2009

    CaRbOnPrOdUcK is Baccuss

    Their not? Damn. I always thought they were.

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  • by dea_ex_machina on April 19th, 2009

    dea_ex_machina

    and why isn't a single portion of that yellow stuff called choose?

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  • by froglette on March 29th, 2009

    froglette

    The other answers to this question regarding goose/geese are incorrect.

    In the Old English period, a group of words were affected in the dative singular and the plural by a process called i-mutation, which resulted in a vowel change in those cases. It is words which were affected by this that have a vowel change in the plural in Modern English (and not all the words which were affected in Old English are affected in Modern English still- for example the plural of book is books, rather than beech, which it would be if the i-mutated form had survived). It is only in the Modern English period that the vowel change came to be an exclusively past tense marker.

    Moose is a word which isn't attested in English until the seventeenth century, a good six-seven hundred years after the end of the Old English period, and is therefore unaffected by i-mutation.

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  • by .LiL TiNK. on August 11th, 2006

    .LiL TiNK.

    Because it just sounds better xD

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  • by denidowi on November 25th, 2009

    denidowi

    BTW, the plural of hippopotamus IS 'hippopotami'LOL!
    As for the other, why don't you start a trend; that is how all changes occurLOL!!
    While you're at it, why don't you also alter the plural of 'noose' to become, "neese"?? ;)

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  • by Curiosity Killed the Cat on February 13th, 2012

    Curiosity Killed the Cat

    Because they're Moosen!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0LdJihN2xw&feature=related

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More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading If the plural of "goose" is "geese", then why don't we say the plural of "moose" as "meese"? Also, with hippopotamus, why isn't that hippopotami? Cactus is cacti. - which can also be phrased in the following ways:

  • If more than one goose is called geese, why isn't more than one moose called meese?
  • If more then one goose is geese why isnt more then one moose meece?

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