On the Pluralization of Octopus

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As a military-trained linguist with a giant octopus tattoo on the thigh, I have thoughts on the pluralization of the word octopus, which I thought I'd share with you.

Much like the way my white male coworkers are physically incapable of saying the phrase “me too” without prefacing it with the word “hashtag”, every time I show my tattoo, someone in the room has to say “octopussy” followed by “What? That’s how you say more than one octopus.”

Which then prompts me to launch into my “well actually” TED Talk. Welcome! Enjoy.

Let’s take a look at some suggestions at how to pluralize the word octopus:

Octopussy

This isn’t even close. Absolutely no one says this except boring white guys that lack personality.

Octopi

“We say cacti for more than one cactus. Surely it's the same for octopus, right?”

This is the common fallback for the layman. In fact, you might have gotten a “well actually” from a layman explaining that this is the correct pluralization for octopus.

It isn’t. Let me explain why.

Cactus is a Latin word. Singular Latin words that end in -us end in -i when pluralized. So it makes sense that you would think this would be the same for octopus, if not for one issue.

Octopus isn’t a Latin word. Octopus is a Greek word. The Greek way of pluralizing octopus would be…

Octopodes

But almost no one says this, because we usually pluralize in English, not the original language. Cacti is a rare exception. You might also see the word octopods, which is similar.

Octopuses

This is how we pluralize in English, and this is the most correct way of pluralizing octopus. And if a layman tries to tell you it’s octopi or if a boring white guy tries to tell you it’s octopussy, now you are armed (8-wise) with the knowledge to give them a “well actually” right back.