How do you make octopus plural? It’s simple!
The plural is octopuses. Why do some dictionaries also list octopi as a possibility? In Latin, some plurals end with an i. The problem is, octopus derives from Greek. The i was a mistake, but so many people adopted it that it became an acceptable alternative. Many people don’t like octopi, and you will rarely see it in edited works, but it does occasionally appear.
The clever octopuses
snuck out of their tank at night.
Groups of more than two octopi
are rarely seen in the wild.
Examples
This seems extraordinarily unfair: A dull-looking fish lives for centuries while the cuttlefish, in their chromatic splendor, and the octopuses
, in their inquisitive intelligence, are dead before they are 2?
Octopuses
use tools; they play; they can solve problems and puzzles; and they may even engage in warfare with improvised weapons.
Sealy also said that drainage pipes combine two things octopi
love, which is a cramped dark space and fish.
The plural of octopus is almost as fascinating as the animal. What more can you learn about plurals and spelling?
