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The answer to this question outlines a general rule for pluralising acronyms:

The general rule is that you should not use an apostrophe to form the plurals of nouns, abbreviations, or dates made up of numbers: just add -s (or -es, if the noun in question forms its plural with - es).

However, it is not clear from that answer what should be done if the noun in question uses does not end in either -s or -es.

What is the correct plural abbreviation for Curriculum Vitae?

I think the plural is Curriculum Vitarum (or possibly Curricula Vitae), which would make the plural abbreviation CV too. Use of the -s suffix suggests Curriculum Vitaes (or possibly Curriculums Vitae) which seems wrong.

What is correct?

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Keith
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  • @EdwinAshworth those appear to be works where adding the "s" makes the abbreviated word a plural, that general case doesn't answer this one. – Keith Jan 24 '17 at 20:28
  • How does Hugo's answer not answer this? – tchrist Jan 24 '17 at 20:33
  • @tchrist Not really, no. That really accurately clarifies the distinction between CDs and CD's, but doesn't answer this one (though it does rule out CV's, which is helpful). If you can explain why that is a complete answer to this question I'll be happy to accept it. – Keith Jan 24 '17 at 20:40
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    I believe the correct pluralization for curriculum vitae should be curricula vitae, not curriculum vitarum, as curriculum is the noun. Which would still lead one to use CV for the plural. – Cameron Jan 24 '17 at 20:48
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    It reads: “The general rule is that you should not use an apostrophe to form the plurals of nouns, abbreviations, or dates made up of numbers: just add -s (or -es, if the noun in question forms its plural with - es). For example:

    ... MP MPs (e.g. Local MPs are divided on this issue.)”

     – tchrist Jan 24 '17 at 21:03
  • @tchrist only the noun in question is Latin, not English, and doesn't use either -s or -es in its plural. – Keith Jan 25 '17 at 07:01
  • @tchrist I've updated the question to make it clear what I'm asking about and why Hugo's general answer for acronyms does not appear to cover this case. – Keith Jan 25 '17 at 07:25
  • @Cameron I've updated the question, cheers. – Keith Jan 25 '17 at 07:32
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    If you are alleging that CV is not pronounced SEE-VEE or that CVs is not pronounced SEE-VEEs, then you'd best make that clear, with supporting evidence to that effect. Otherwise this makes no sense. – tchrist Jan 25 '17 at 11:40
  • @tchrist Huh? I'm not alleging anything about how the letters of the acronym is pronounced. Are you saying that the rule for written English acronyms should depend on the pronunciation of the letters and not the words? If so then that would be new information not present in the answer you insist this is a duplicate of. Also, would Loot Boxes be LBes (based on boxes) or LBs (based on ell-bees), because my understanding of Hugo's answer would be the former, which in turn suggests that it's the plural of the noun, not the letter, that matters. – Keith Jan 25 '17 at 11:49
  • Oh, I was about to say the same thing. How do you pronounce the abbreviation CV, do you pronounce it in the English or in the Latin way? Do you always say the full form? Do you use the Latin plural form? When pluralising letters we add the -s, "How many As did you get in your semester?" This is a question about common sense, it's got nothing to do with English per se (Ha! Note Bene the Latin expression) – Mari-Lou A Jan 25 '17 at 11:50
  • @Mari-LouA I'd pronounce it see-vee, but it's not clear from the question this is a duplicate of that pronunciation of the letters is the rule. An A grade is not an abbreviation, the top grade is just called "A"; I don't think it's the same thing (also, based on Hugo's answer, wouldn't it be "How many A's did you get in your semester?") – Keith Jan 25 '17 at 11:56
  • The plural of an abbreviation, at least in colloquial speech, doesn't have much to do the full phrase in the UK. The abbreviation MP is pluralised as MPs regardless of whether it stands for Military Policemen or Members of Parliament. In the first case neither word ends in an 's' and in the second the plural ending in an 's' is the first word, however no one would refer to Members of Parliament as MsP (pronounced EMMS PEE as EMM ESS PEE is something different). – BoldBen Mar 26 '17 at 20:11
  • @BoldBen cheers, that's pretty much what I'm getting at - I thought that Military Police would be MP, Very Important People would be VIP and so on (in terms of correct English - clearly pluralised acronyms such as MPs are commonly understood) - so "The MP need to get all the VIP out of here" would be correct, but "The MPs need to get all the VIPs out of here" would be commonly understood. That isn't made clear in the question this is flagged as a duplicate of; add that clarity to an answer and I'll accept it. – Keith Mar 27 '17 at 08:45
  • @Keith If we are going to refer to people and things by initials then we need some way to indicate plurals. If we are to insist that the initials must stand strictly for the words they represent and not take an 's' when they are plural then indicating plurals becomes very difficult. I could just about accept MsP for Members of Parliament but what you would do for Military Policemen I'm not so sure. You can't even use MPn because the singular and plural both end in the same letter. Apologies to any lady members of the Military Police of course, I'm just trying to make a linguistic point. – BoldBen Mar 28 '17 at 10:10

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Wikipedia uses "CVs", so I'd go with that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_vitae

user1747935
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    Cheers, but that's just an example of usage. I'm sure that CVs is commonly understood, but is it correct? – Keith Jan 24 '17 at 20:33