plural
plur·al/ˈplʊəɹəl/adjective, noun
plural is spelled P-L-U-R-A-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables (plur·al). It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, plural means “Consisting of or containing more than one of something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in plural?
| Letters | 6: P-L-U-R-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: plur·al |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is plural?
Plural appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce plural?
- /ˈplʊəɹəl/
- /ˈplɔːɹəl/
- /ˈpljʊəɹəl/
Plural has 2 syllables, split plur·al in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-plural.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-plural.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with plural
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: pleural (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of plural
- more plural comparative
- most plural superlative
- pl.
- pl
- plurals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does plural mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Consisting of or containing more than one of something.
The notion of culture is one whose meanings are plural and shifting.
- 2
In systems of number, not singular or not singular or dual.
English nouns usually have singular and plural forms.
- 3
Pluralistic.
- 4
Having some form of multiplicity, especially dissociative identity disorder.
noun
- 1
The plural number. In English, referring to more or less than one of something.
- 2
A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.
The plural of 'cat' is 'cats', but the plural of 'child' is 'children'.
- 3
A person with some form of multiplicity, particularly dissociative identity disorder.
Autistics, plurals, and gender nonconforming individuals are all stigmatized as not being capable of understanding their own experiences and are repeatedly attacked with narratives intended to make them doubt their own emotions, memories, a
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate plural?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of plural: pl, pl., plur..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Plural in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pluriel |
| German | Plural-, pluralisch, plural, mehrfach, Mehrzahl- , Mehrzahl |
| Portuguese | plural |
| Spanish | plural |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does plural come from?
From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), Borrowed from Latin plūrālis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plūs, plūris (“more”) + -ālis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).