Loan words - plural
From Hull AWE
Advice LeafletsAdvice leaflets originally produced for the Study Advice Service in the University of Hull, which holds the copyright:
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Some words are essentially used in English only in their plural form. Some of these are in the table below. Words listed in square brackets [ ] do not usually occur in English in that form, even in the most academic writing.
[It may help to know that et in Latin (and French) means 'and'.]
| Usual (plural) form | Original Singular | Comments |
| agenda | agendum | = the things that are to be done. |
| alia | [alium] | = other things. |
| alii | [alius] | = other people |
| alumni | alumnus (m), alumnae (f) | (former) student, (former) pupil |
| arcana | [arcanum] | = 'the secret things', only revealed to initiates. |
| cetera | [ceterum] | = the other things, as in et cetera |
| corrigenda | corrigendum | = the things that should be corrected. |
| data | datum | The singular datum is rare nowadays. |
| delenda | delendum | = the things that are to be deleted. |
| emendenda | emendendum | = the things that should be changed. |
| impedimenta | impedimentum | = baggage. The Latin singular ~ impediment. |
| marginalia | marginalium | |
| miscellanea | miscellaneum | = miscellany. |
| paraphernalia | [paraphernalium | The singular paraphernal exists in English. But it is rare. |
See also: Some examples of foreign plurals used in academic English and Table of common loan words usually taking the singular form