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Glite Dictionary
🔢 Word for many 🌐 Translation category
plural form

plural form

3.7
One translation used for different numbers, like one or many
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : forma plural
  • Languages like Chinese and Japanese have specific rules for their plural forms.

Examples

  • In the discussion of a scene from Ceremony (Silko 1977) contained in Swan's Article/2, one reads: "Although veiled, this exchange references techniques; note the plural form.

    Academic text (1990)

  • In English, the plural form of "cat" is "cats," indicating more than one cat.

  • When counting objects, it is essential to use the correct plural form to avoid confusion.

Synonyms

plural
vsplural form
12 1.0

A form of a word that shows more than one thing, like nouns and pronouns

is a software translation category chosen by rules for specific numbers

Surface Forms

plural form singular
plural forms plural

Morphology

plural + form

The meaning follows directly from combining 'plural' (used for multiple items) with 'form' (a variant or shape), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes the variant used for plural contexts. Although localization introduces technical details about categories and selection rules, the basic concept is compositionally transparent and cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Plural form in software comes from the need to make different word versions for different numbers. Translators make a separate plural form for 'one', 'few', or 'many', so the phrase now means one of these number-based versions.