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Similarly to Latin words with no plurals in English I still have trouble with some plurals when the word ends in -us.

For example, I have often been told that the plural for cactus is cacti, but then some argue it is cactuses.

Merriam Webster states that it could be either octopuses or octopi, but then someone a while back said it is actually octopodes. Huh?

When talking about the plural for hippopotamus, is it hippopotamuses or hippopotami?

How do I tell when to use -uses rather than -i?

Chris Rogers
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  • Does this answer your question? Plurals of foreign words Basically, if unsure, check in a good dictionary (see resources page on ELU.Meta). They give idiomatic usages. // There is a misquote in your question. The linked article says that 'octopodes is not incorrect, but is a very infrequently used variant' (to paraphrase). – Edwin Ashworth Sep 10 '21 at 11:05
  • Octopus is derived from Greek, not Latin, so it doesn't follow the rules for Latin words. Cacti is widely used by enthusiasts (at least, in the UK). – Kate Bunting Sep 10 '21 at 11:26
  • As discussed in the other questions and their answers, there are multiple options for the plurals of some words (e.g. octopus which many people don't know or can't agree about), and using the wrong plural of these words is very common even for native English speakers, so I wouldn't worry too much if there doesn't seem to be a clear answer. – Stuart F Sep 10 '21 at 14:07

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