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The title of the Chinese book 三体, written by Liu Cixin, was translated as The Three-Body Problem. This is also the name of a famous physics problem.

My question is: why do we say the three-body and not the three-bodies or the three-bodys? There are three bodies involved, not one, and the plural of body is bodies.

tchrist
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guillaume8375
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1 Answers1

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This is not an unreasonable question.

all have strings of the form [numeral] + [plural-form noun before the head noun] + [head noun]. The first three examples are fixed in form.

But these are not typical; usually, even after a numeral or plural-triggering quantifier like 'many', nouns used prenominally are in the singular form.

I'll list Tim's examples with measures (units):

  • a six-inch line
  • a ten foot ladder
  • a six mile run
  • a two-second gap
  • a ten-degree difference
  • a two-year-old boy
  • a ten-gallon hat

and add his, Kate's, Peter's and Stuart's examples with other prenominal nouns ('quasi-units?'):

  • a five-alarm fire
  • a three-pipe problem
  • a four-room apartment
  • a three-dog night
  • a four-horse open sleigh
  • an eight-man crew
  • a five-star review
  • the seven year itch
  • a three-piece suite
  • a 38-piece orchestra
  • the ten step program
  • a two-horse town / race
  • a 21-gun salute
  • a three-ring circus
  • a three-point turn
  • a three-bar electric fire
  • Two Gun Tex of Texas (!!)

So the Three-body Problem is of the usual form – and not an exception – as looking up the term will confirm).

Edwin Ashworth
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  • The point is that all your examples should have hyphens as a compound adjective, or at least are treated as a compound, and adjectives are not inflected for number. Hence they are all singular. It is arguable that your first four examples should have apostrophes. – Andrew Leach Mar 23 '24 at 19:41
  • Usage, not prescriptive rules, drives / ultimately governs acceptability. 'The Ten Step Program' is found with and without the hyphen. "Two Gun Tex of Texas" is a song title, unhyphenated. The seven year itch is usually but not always found hyphenated; the film title was unhyphenated. // The move to drop apostrophes from usages such as 'working mens club' is well under way; the attributive noun v adjective divide is murky. Another complication making the simplistic analysis suspect: as Erik Kowal ... – Edwin Ashworth Mar 23 '24 at 23:42
  • has said elsewhere, 'you could describe a successful tennis player equally as "a five-times winner of the Australian Open" and "a five-time winner of the Australian Open" '. But adjectives don't inflect for number in English .... – Edwin Ashworth Mar 23 '24 at 23:42
  • No, you couldn't. – Andrew Leach Mar 24 '24 at 08:41
  • Many do. 400 000+ (raw) hits on Google for "three(-)times winner", including many respectable sources (Nature, The Times, Keir Starmer, Bonhams ...). Ludwig Guru even has '"three times winner" is correct and usable in written English'. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 24 '24 at 14:56