What more can you learn about plurals and spelling? The problem is, octopus derives from Greek. Incident of a Voyage in the Banda Sea—An Octopus Who Is Injured by a Sailor Calls Upon His Companions for Help—They Respond Promptly, and a Gang of Octopi Take Control of the Deck of the Vessel, Driving the Crew Below.— (headline and caption) Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 Jan. 1888, It is certain that the octopi do attain to a very large size in the Indian seas; and there is nothing improbable in their taking hold of a man and drowning him.— Penny Magazine for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (London, Eng. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Modern usage of octopodes is so infrequent that many people mistakenly create the erroneous plural form octopi, formed according to rules for Latin plurals. Thus, the plural of bacterium is bacteria, rather than bacteriums. However, the word octopus comes from Greek and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. Since “octopus” is a Greek word, the correct plural is NOT “octopi”, a Latin plural structure. "Octopi" is a commonly used plural, and it seems to make sense. 16 Apr. The -i ending comes from the belief that words of Latin origin should have Latin ending in English (while octopus may ultimately come from Greek it had a stay in New Latin before arriving here). Octopi, the supposed plural of octopus, is a favorite among fans of quirky words, but it has no etymological basis.The form was created by English speakers out of a mistaken belief that octopus is Latin and hence pluralized with an -i ending. Octopi appears to be the oldest of the three main plurals, dating back to the early 19th century. Rule of thumb: if English gets the opportunity to trip you up, it will. The plural form octopi, formed according to rules for some Latin plurals, is incorrect. The correct forms are octopuses, octopodes, or octopi. Octopus definition, any octopod of the genus Octopus, having a soft, oval body and eight sucker-bearing arms, living mostly at the bottom of the sea. Octopuses (which may rarely also be found rendered as octopusses) dates from slightly later in the 19th century, and is based not so much on a belief as it is on the habit of giving English words English endings. The plural form of octopus is octopuses or octopi (hypercorrect) . The Standard Oil Company, says the Louisville Courier-Journal, is one of the great octopuses of time, absorbing everything that comes within its reach, and quite killing off everything in its own line of business in the way of competition.— Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! BESEIGED BY DEVILFISH. C'mon, English, get your act together." The noun octopus has a Greek root. As the Merriam-Webster dictionary points out, people use three different terms, however: octopi, octopuses, and octopodes. "— The Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR), 20 Oct. 1886. Our language takes words from a wide variety of sources; generally when a noun enters into English it is pluralized as an English word, rather than in its native form. It’s simple! Octopi is the oldest plural of octopus, coming from the belief that Latin origins should have Latin endings. USAGE The standard English plural of octopus is octopuses. Octopuses is the next plural, which gives the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. Lastly, octopodes stems from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending. Octopodes, it should be noted, takes a slightly different pronunciation than the other two words, placing the emphasis on the second syllable, rather than the first. 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