a weblog of wordplay by Eric Harshbarger
Multiple Solutions?
I noticed a word whose plural is formed by adding letters to the *beginning* of its singular form.In English, of course, the simplest plural forms are made by adding an "s" to the end of a word (cat[s], dog[s], etc).
There are a gazillion exceptions of course, including adding different letters to the end (ox[en]) or inserting letters into the singular form (di[c]e, atla[nte]s). Not to mention all of the instances where the singular's spelling is altered beyond simple insertions (mouse -> mice).
But I'd never realized that there was (at least) one word whose plural is formed by attaching letters to the beginning of the singular form (without altering that form otherwise). It's not a common word -- were talking a foreign coin here, but still... it's good in TWL-Scrabble, so it must be legit, right?
The word?
LOTI, the basic monetary unit of Lesotho [MW3].
It's plural?
MALOTI
-- Eric
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Comments about this article:
Indeed, there exists plurals where the singular is marked with a prefix. As noted, The currency of the Kingdom of Lesotho, the LOTI is pluralized as MALOTI. Its subunit, the SENTE is also pluralized in the same way, yet with a different prefix. Its plural is LISENTE. SENTE and LISENTE, are also valid Scrabble words.Posted by: Stuart M. Klimek
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