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Concept
Plurale tantum
Summary
A plurale tantum; ) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used.
In English, pluralia tantum are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as spectacles, trousers, pants, scissors, clothes, or genitals. Other examples are for collections that, like alms and feces, cannot conceivably be singular. Other examples include suds, jeans, outskirts, odds, riches, surroundings, thanks, and heroics.
In some languages, pluralia tantum refer to points or periods of time (for example, Latin kalendae 'calends, the first day of the month', German Ferien 'vacation, holiday'), or to events (for example, Finnish häät 'wedding' and kasvot 'face'), or to liquids (for example, Hebrew מַיִם (mayim) and Chichewa madzí, both 'water'). In some cases there is no obvious semantic reason for a particular noun to be plurale tantum. The Dutch hersenen 'brain', Swedish pengar and Russian den'gi (деньги) 'money' are pluralia tantum.
A bilingual example is the Latin word fasces that was brought into English; when referring to the symbol of authority, it is a plurale tantum noun in both languages.
In English, some plurale tantum nouns have a singular form used only attributively. Phrases such as "trouser press" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, but it is considered nonstandard to say "a trouser" or "a scissor" on its own. That accords with the strong preference for singular nouns in attributive positions in English, but some words are used in the plural form even as attributive nouns, such as "clothes peg", "glasses case" – notwithstanding "spectacle case" and "eyeglass case".
In English, a word may have many definitions only some of which are pluralia tantum. The word "glasses" (a set of corrective lenses to improve eyesight) is plurale tantum. In contrast, the word "glass"— either a container for drinks (a count noun) or a vitreous substance (a mass noun)— may be singular or plural.
Official source
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