Octopuses or Octopi?

J

JTeach619

Companion
Alright teachers...here's one for ya! Is the plural of octopus: octopuses or octopi? I've looked it up in several dictionaries and both seem to be acceptable. I am trying to name my groups for Guided Reading and I've got Fish, Crabs, Turtles, and Octopuses/Octopi?! So...which one is it? :confused:
 
Lol, I read a lot of Greek plays in college. "-pus" is a dead giveaway.

Actually, I aspire to be like TeacherGroupie when I grow up. Her knowledge of word origins is unparalleled.
 
The absolute correct form would be "octopodes" - the classic Greek plural for anything ending in -pus. Which means platypus would be "platypodes."

However, in British and American English, it is acceptable now to pluralize Greek words using -es instead of -odes.

"Octopi" and "platypi" are considered dead wrong, as the root word is not Latin.

Also, in 2nd grade, I'm not sure they'd care. Sea creatures with 8 legs are awesome any way you pluralize them :)
 
peachyness said:
The absolute correct form would be "octopodes" - the classic Greek plural for anything ending in -pus. Which means platypus would be "platypodes."

However, in British and American English, it is acceptable now to pluralize Greek words using -es instead of -odes.

"Octopi" and "platypi" are considered dead wrong, as the root word is not Latin.

Also, in 2nd grade, I'm not sure they'd care. Sea creatures with 8 legs are awesome any way you pluralize them
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I learn something new everyday on this forum. :)
 
Aww man...there is a website that says "octopi" and EVERY YEAR for the past 4 years I've taught my 2nd graders the WRONG WORD! I actually looked it up in class one day and assumed the "website experts" were right. I feel silly now!
 
I have an octopus table. I call it "the octopus table." I also have a shark table, crab table and whale table. I guess I just avoided the whole plural thing altogether. ;)
 
chebrutta, your faith in my knowledge isn't fully justified, but I'm blushing gratefully. And well done, by the way.

Of course, if you use octopodes, you've got to pronounce it right. The stress shifts to the second syllable, like so:

oc-TOP-uh-dees​

Some people think children aren't interested in the real grown-up words, but my experience is that most kids enjoy codes and code words and Being In The Know. Then again, when mine were small, one of their favorite words was absquatulate. This is a made-up word I found years ago; it is literally 'to go squat somewhere else', so we used it as a high-rent and satisfactorily opaque code word for 'leave'.
 
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I found a nice little explanation for you: http://www.factmonster.com/askeds/plural-octopus.html

Chebrutta and TeacherGroupie are correct. Technically, the plural should be octopodes, as it does come from ancient Greek. Unfortunately, we don't really use it as acceptable English. You'd probably be better off using octopuses; while this doesn't reflect the Greek, it came into Latin belonging to 3rd declension, which the -es ending reflects. It could make an interesting teachable moment, since I'm sure some kids will argue it's octopi.
 
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