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Aplurale tantum (Latin for 'plural only';pl. pluralia tantum) is a noun that appears only in theplural form and does not have asingular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used.
In English,pluralia tantum are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as spectacles, trousers, pants, scissors, clothes, or genitals. Other examples are for collections that, likealms, cannot conceivably be singular. Other examples includesuds,jeans, outskirts,odds, riches, goods, news,gallows (although later treated as singular), surroundings, thanks, and heroics.
In some languages,pluralia tantum refer to points or periods of time (for example,Latinkalendae 'calends, the first day of the month',GermanFerien 'vacation, holiday'), or to events (for example,Finnishhäät 'wedding'), or to liquids (for example,Hebrewמַיִם (mayim) andChichewamadzí, both 'water').
A bilingual example is the Latin wordfasces that was brought into English; when referring to the symbol of authority, it is aplurale tantum noun in both languages.[1]
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In English, someplurale tantum nouns have a singular form used onlyattributively. Phrases such as "trouser press" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, but it is considered nonstandard to say "a trouser" or "a scissor" on its own (though in the fashion and tailoring industries use of "trouser" in the singular to refer to a particular style occurs[2]). That accords with the strong preference for singular nouns in attributive positions in English, but some words are used in the plural form even as attributive nouns, such as "clothes peg", "glasses case" – notwithstanding "spectacle case" and "eyeglass case".
In English, a word may have many definitions only some of which arepluralia tantum. The word "glasses" (a set of corrective lenses to improve eyesight) isplurale tantum. In contrast, the word "glass"—either a container for drinks (acount noun) or a vitreous substance (amass noun)—may be singular or plural. Some words, such as "brain" and "intestine", can be used as eitherplurale tantum nouns or count nouns.
The term for a noun that appears only in the singular form issingulare tantum (pl. singularia tantum), such as the English words: information, dust, and wealth.Singulare tantum is defined by theShorter Oxford English Dictionary as "Gram. A word having only a singular form;esp. a non-count noun."[3] Such nouns may refer to a unique singular object (essentially a proper noun), but more often than not, they refer to uncountable nouns, eithermass nouns (referring to a substance that cannot be counted as distinct objects, such as 'milk') or collective nouns (referring to objects that may in principle be counted but are referred to as one, such as 'popcorn' orArabicتُوت,tut, 'mulberry'). Given that they do not have a number distinction, they may appear assingulare tantum in one language but asplurale tantum in another. Compare Englishwater to theHebrewplurale tantum,מַיִם (mayim).
In English, such words are almost alwaysmass nouns. Some uncountable nouns can be alternatively used as count nouns when meaning "a type of", and the plural means "more than one type of". For example,strength is uncountable inStrength is power, but it can be used as a countable noun to mean aninstance of [akind of] strength, as inMy strengths are in physics and chemistry. Some words, especially proper nouns such as the name of an individual, are nearly always in the singular form because there is only one example of what that noun means. Others like "nothingness" or "emptiness" refer to logical states of absence that can't sensibly be quantified at all, hence are not usefully "mass nouns" but are stillsingulare tantum.
Pluralia tantum vary arbitrarily between languages. For example, inSwedish, a pair of scissors is justen sax (lit. 'one scissor'), not aplurale tantum. Similarly, inFrench, a pair of trousers isun pantalon, while inSpanishun pantalón (singular) andunos pantalones (plural) are both valid ways to refer to a single garment. Additionally, inGerman, the term "Jeans" which is borrowed from the English, is rendered singular feminine asdie Jeans in accordance with the singular feminine worddie Hose meaning "trousers".
In some other languages, rather than quantifying aplurale tantum noun with ameasure word, special numeral forms are used in such cases. InPolish, for example, "one pair of eyeglasses" is expressed as eitherjedne okulary (one-plural glasses-plural) orjedna para okularów (one-singular pair-singular glasses-genitive plural). For larger quantities, "collective numeral" forms are available:troje drzwi (three doors),pięcioro skrzypiec (five violins). Compare them to the ordinary numeral forms found in Polish:trzy filmy/pięć filmów (three films/five films)[4]
TheRussianденьги (den'gi, 'money') originally had a singular,деньга (den'ga), which meant a copper coin worth half akopeck.
TheYiddish wordkreplach is a well known example of aplurale tantum that is also plural only in other languages into which it is borrowed,[clarification needed] 'one of the kreplach' would beאיינער פון די קרעפּלאַך (eyner fun di kreplakh).
TheWelshnefoedd, 'heaven', is the plural ofnef, which is no longer part of the spoken language.Nefoedd is now used with the singular meaning of 'heaven' and plural of 'heavens'.
InHebrew, a few words that indicate an action establishing a new relationship betweentwo persons, are indicated by the plural form only: אירוסין (engagement), נישואין (marriage), קידושין (religious marriage), גירושין (divorce), פיטורין (dismissal), and likewise.
The dictionary definition ofplurale tantum at Wiktionary
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