Why is moose plural

Moose derives from Algonquian, a Native American language. It kept the same plural ending it had in its original language instead of adopting the normal S ending of most English plurals. When I looked out the window, there were two moose eating my freshly planted rose bush. The meese in Alaska are never very friendly. My favorite animals are mooses and octopuses. All nouns that are borrowed into English either form their plural with the standard plural ending —s the vast majority , retain the plural ending of the donor language e.

It is also quite possible for the same noun to employ more than one of the above types of plural formation. The word moose has its origin in the Native American Algonquian language. Moose entered English via the Algonquian language in the early 17th century long after the Old English vowel changes had happened. Though vowel mutation in English had hardly faded into the background, the specific process that gave us "feet and geese" had already occurred hundreds of years beforehand.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Did you spot a typo? Grammarly's app will help with: 1 Avoiding spelling errors 2 Correcting grammar errors 3 Finding better words This free browser extension works with webmail, social media, and texting apps as well as online forms and Microsoft Office documents, like Word and Teams. Download the app. If you're not from Alaska, Canada, or the northeastern United States, you may not have had to give too much thought to the plural of "moose.

Despite what a certain honking bird whose singular form rhymes with that of "moose" might suggest, the plural of "moose" is not "meese. Many other words in the English language are also loanwords, but " moose" is a relatively new addition, incorporated from several Native American languages in the early s.

For more fascinating animal names, check out these wacky but real names for groups of animals. So where did the word "goose" come from, and where did it get its unusual plural? Well, even though "goose" and "moose" sound the same, they're not related words.

In fact, they originate from different languages and different times in history. Words like " tooth ," "foot" , and, yes, "goose" date back up to a thousand years before "moose ," when Old English was the only form of English.

Back then, pluralization was different; mutations , or sound changes to words, would denote whether or not certain words were plural or singular. So we got "teeth" and "feet" and "geese. Learn about the most confusing grammar rules in all of English.

There's the final perplexing question about the plural of "moose.