Confusing words for newbies: Toothbrush / Hairbrush / Goggles

Question

I've never understood how these words were created.

Toothbrush: The only time I think the word "toothbrush" is applicable to is when I was brushing my daughter's 1st tooth. Shouldn't this be teethbrush?

Hairbrush: Why is hair considered singular when there are so many strands?

Goggles: Goggles is a single unit. Shouldn't it be goggle? Same goes for scissors, glasses, etc...(These are singular in Vietnamese and Chinese.)

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

Because it just IS that way.

I don't know that you'll get a good answer to your question. You may as well add "pants." Only people in the clothing industry use the word "pant."

MrPedantic · Answer

1. Not if you brush properly.

2. It's a collective noun: we think of all those strands as a unit.

3. It's two units in each case: and the "twoness" is significant. (Similarly, we can speak of "hairs", not "hair", where the individuality of the hairs is significant, e.g. "the hairs on the back of his neck stood up".)

MrP

Notwen · Answer

Hello Tuanle,

as MrPedantic did, I insist that scissors or glasses are TWO(*).

scissors
plural noun
1. A one-handed cutting device with two long blades pivoted in the middle so the cutting edges close and overlap.
2. Any position or movement similar to that of scissors.
3. gymnastics.
A movement of the legs similar to the opening and closing of scissors.
4. wrestling.
A locking of the legs around the opponent's head or body.
5. A style of high jump where the jump is approached at an angle and the leg nearest the bar leads throughout.

Etymology: 14c: from French cisoires, from Latin cisorium cutting tool, from caedere to cut.You see that it comes from Latin through French (do you speak French ?)

The Latin and French meaning is a cutting tool. Indeed, in French ciseaux means scissors (cisoires is old French), but French also uses the singular form ciseau (without 'x'), which means a cutting tool with only one blade. The tool you refer to has two blades, that's why it is named ciseaux or scissors.
(I didn't find any use in English for the singular 'scissor', does it exist ?)

The same applies in French for lunettes (glasses, or goggles) : The singular lunette exists.

For pants, I don't see any similar explanation, I would guess the word has been formed by similarity (is this correct ?) with glasses, scissors, etc.

Regards,
Jerome

(*) MrPedantic, is "twoness" used ? Could duality be appropriate ?

Tuanle · Answer

Thanks for the replies.

As a native Vietnamese and Chinese speaker, it was very confusing for me to learn those words I mentioned above. I used to say "goggle, scissor, pant/short, etc..." when I first learn to speak English, just because I refered to them as singular forms in Vietnamese and Chinese. It still makes more sense to me to refer to them as singular forms, although I understand now where the words are derived from.

Confusing words for newbies: Toothbrush / Hairbrush / Goggles

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