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Glite Dictionary
to pluralize

to pluralize

1 5.1
Make a word show more than one thing, usually by adding -s
  • verb
  • /ˈplʊrəlˌaɪz/
translation icon : pluralizar
  • When writing in English, you typically pluralize nouns by adding 's' to the end.

Examples

  • I haven't heard that one, but I have noticed an odd fad lately for pluralizing adjectives and verbs.

    Blog text (34)

  • You can't pluralize "Lone Ranger."

    Airheads (1994)

  • How can you pluralize "The Lone Ranger"?

    Airheads (1994)

  • But when you say cats, the pluralizing sound is like that.

  • (How do you pluralize 'bi' anyway?)

    Blog text (19)

  • You don't pluralize cheese.

    The Night Is Young (2018)

  • Another gross mistake is pluralizing "mother-in-law" as "mother-in-laws"—again, no, no, no! It is "mothers-in-law."

    Blog text (9)

  • In grammar class, we learned how to pluralize words like 'mouse' to 'mice.'

  • To form the plural, you must pluralize 'child' to become 'children.'

Surface Forms

pluralize infinitive
pluralized past
pluralized past participle
pluralizing present participle
pluralizes third person singular

Morphology

pluralize = plural (transparent) = plural + ize

A straightforward, productive verb-forming suffix '-ize' applied to 'plural' meaning 'make plural', which learners can infer from the base.

Etymology

Pluralize comes from the word plural, which means 'more than one', and the ending -ize, which means 'to make'. So to pluralize a word is simply to 'make' it show 'more than one'.