"What's the plural of woman?"
The plural of woman is women.
Definition of woman:
The word "woman" refers to an adult female human being. It is a commonly used noun that holds significant importance in our daily lives.
As with many nouns in the English language, the plural form of "woman" can be a bit tricky. In this blog post, we'll delve into the grammatical rule for forming the plural of "woman" and answer some commonly asked questions about this word.
Is Woman Singular or Plural?
"Women" is the plural form of the noun, while "woman" is the singular form of the noun. In other words, "woman" refers to one female individual, while "women" refers to multiple female individuals.
In addition, it is worth noting that the plural form "women" can be used to refer to both a group of female individuals and the general concept of women as a group. For example, "Women are underrepresented in leadership positions" refers to the general concept of women, while "The women at the conference were all accomplished professionals" refers to a specific group of women.
Why is the Plural of Woman Women?
In English, most plural nouns are formed by simply adding an "-s" or "-es" to the end of the singular noun. However, "woman" is an exception to this rule. The plural of "woman" is "women."
The change from "a" to "e" in the spelling of the word is a result of an irregular plural form. Other similar irregular words include the words "man" and "child" which in the plural become "men" and "children", respectively.
The reason why the plural of woman is "women" has to do with the history of the English language. English, like many languages, has gone through various changes over time, and one of those changes was the way plurals were formed.
In Old English, the plural of "wif" (the Old English word for "woman") was "wifmen," which eventually evolved into "women." The plural of "man" was "men," which is why we have the distinction between "man" and "men" and "woman" and "women" today.
Is the Word Woman Countable or Uncountable?
The word "woman" is a countable noun. We can use the singular form of the word to refer to a single individual, and the plural form to refer to multiple individuals.
For instance, we can say "one woman" or "two women" based on the number of people we're referring to.
Plural of Woman Example Sentences
To understand the usage of the singular and plural forms of "woman," let's look at some example sentences:
Singular:
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She is a beautiful woman.
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The woman standing next to me is my mother.
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The woman who won the award last night is a well-known actress.
Plural:
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The women in this company are all professionals.
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Women have played a significant role in the development of our society.
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The event was attended by hundreds of women from all over the world.
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