Grammar: Irregular Nouns

Here is a list of some of the most common irregular  nouns in the English language. This list is not exhaustive.

Plural forms created with a vowel change:

man → men	foot → feet	goose → geese
woman → women	tooth → teeth	mouse → mice

Plural form created by adding the suffix –en

child → children	ox → oxen

Plural forms created by changing f → v

thief → thieves	half → halves	shelf → shelves
wife → wives	leaf → leaves	wolf → wolves
life → lives	loaf  → loaves	hoof → hooves
knife → knives	self → selves
calf → calves	sheaf → sheaves

Plural forms same as singular form (no change)

sheep → sheep	salmon → salmon	Chinese → Chinese
deer → deer	bass → bass	Japanese → Japanese
moose → moose	series → series	Swiss → Swiss
fish → fish	means → means
trout → trout	species → species

 No singular form – only in plural!

scissors	shorts	binoculars
tweezers	pants	clothes
tongs	pajamas	people
trousers	(eye) glasses
slacks	spectacles

 Borrowed Greek and Latin words

analysis → analyses	stimulus → stimuli	curriculum → curricula
basis → bases	nucleus → nuclei	phenomenon → phenomena
hypothesis → hypotheses	alumnus → alumni	criterion → criteria
parenthesis → parentheses	radius → radii	vortex → vortices
synopsis → synopses	syllabus → syllabi	matrix → matrices
thesis → theses	medium → media	index → indices
crisis → crises	memorandum → memoranda

 Borrowed from French

beau → beaux

bureau → bureaux or bureaus

château → châteaux