"What's the plural of bus?"
The plural of bus is buses.
Definition of bus:
A large vehicle designed to carry passengers and equipped with seats or benches. They often follow a fixed schedule and are considered to be public transport.
Why is the plural of bus not busses?
The word "bus" is derived from the Latin word "omnibus," which means "for all."
The plural form of the word "bus" is "buses." The word "buses" is formed by adding the regular English plural suffix "-es" to the end of the word "bus." This is the correct and most common way to form the plural of "bus."
You'd be forgiven for thinking that the plural of bus was busses. After all, 'passes' and 'misses' both have a double s which gives them a short vowel sound.
And wouldn't buses rhyme with muses?
Indeed busses and buses were both historically used as the plural spelling of bus. As you can see from the graph the use of busses was common between roughly 1920 to 1960.
These days however, English has been standardized and the word busses is now deemed to be obselete and archaic.
Although the Merriam Webster online dictionary still lists the word busses as an acceptable plural form of bus, this spelling is very rarely used these days.
Plural of Bus Example Sentences
Here are some examples to illustrate the difference between "bus" and "buses":
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"I missed the bus this morning, so I had to take a taxi to work." - In this sentence, "bus" is a singular noun referring to one specific vehicle used for transportation.
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"The buses in this city are very reliable and run on time." - In this sentence, "buses" is a plural noun referring to multiple vehicles used for transportation.
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"I usually take the bus to work, but today I'm driving my car." - In this sentence, "bus" is a singular noun referring to one specific mode of transportation.
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"I saw a long line of buses parked at the bus station." - In this sentence, "buses" is a plural noun referring to multiple vehicles used for transportation.
Buses vs. busses
The graph shows the occurances of the plural of bus in written English since 1800 using Google's Ngram Viewer.
Fun Fact:
The fastest recorded speed of a school bus was a nerve-racking 367mph (590kph)! It was set by Paul Stender, USA.
Sources:
https://www.kiwi.com/stories/12-surprisingly-fun-facts-about-buses
