Many English words, especially in biology, medicine, and law, have been
adopted from Latin or Greek.
Although most English words form their plurals simply by adding the letter
's', this is not true of these words.
Examples are listed below.
LATIN SINGULAR PLURAL
alumnus (male) alumni
cercus cerci
fungus fungi
ocellus ocelli
palpus palpi
tarsus tarsi
alga algae
alumna (female) alumnae
antenna antennae
coxa coxae
# exuviae
lamella lamellae
larva larvae
maxilla maxillae
pupa pupae
seta setae
tibia tibiae
agendum # # agenda
bacterium bacteria
cilium cilia
datum # # data
flagellum flagella
labium labia
medium media
labrum labra
ommatidium ommatidia
operculum opercula
ovum ova
sensillum sensilla
sternum sterna
tergum terga
tympanum tympana
foramen foramina
corpus corpora
femur femora
genus genera
# # # faeces (feces)
axis axes
navis naves
penis penes
species species
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