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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

PLURAL of dwarf, hoof

Hello all,

I will need a JUSTIFIED (with links etc) anwser to which is the plural of dwarf and hoof

IS it dwarfs or dwarves or both?

IS it hoofs or hooves or both?

on cambridge dictionary online it says both are correct but if there are other posts, official documents that indicate otherewise I will be very glad to find out ASAP

(for instance I found this on the internet http://www.landlubber.com/dwarfs/plural.html

PLURAL OF DWARF
Many people are under the mistaken impression that the plural of dwarf is dwarves.


but that is all it says.

I need this info to make an appeal for something so if you have ANY well-documented info I will be more than glad....to KNOW


thank you in advance!!!
  

Top answer

hi, guest dwarfs and dwarves; hoof and hooves are both correct. either one of them is called an alternate plural. i hope i helped you.

— Molihua

  • hi, guest dwarfs and dwarves; hoof and hooves are both correct.
  • either one of them is called an alternate plural.
  • i hope i helped you.
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14 Answers
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hi, guest

dwarfs and dwarves; hoof and hooves are both correct. either one of them is called an alternate plural.

i hope i helped you.
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thank you!

You have helped me even though this in really not the answer I was hoping for.....

I was hoping that dwarfs and hoofs were more CORRECT than hooves and dwarves.....


Ohhh well!
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If I remember correctly, JRR Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings books, was the one who spelt it as 'dwarves', and he was appalled when the editors edited it to be spelt as 'dwarfs'. Also, he spelt the plural of 'elf' as 'elves', as opposed to elfs, which, I think, had been the accepted spelling back then.
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I had always presumed the "ves" ending is older than the plain "s" ending - I'd always use "ves" - for both cases

have you compared US versus UK on line dictionaries? - it might date from Noah Webster?

prompted by your question ... I found one on-line etymology which dates the spelling of dwarves to Tolkein!
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thank you suzi and guests

I ll have a look !

Stella
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Noun which ends with f or fe, to make their plural we replace f/fe with es but there are some exceptions to this rule.

Exceptions:
Belief
Grief
Chief
Mischief
Handkerchief

Hoof
Roof
Proof
Dwarf
Wharf
Safe
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What about poof?

Poofs?

Pooves?

Which is right?
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"Poofs" seems much more popular. See for instance:

www.4poofsandapianoshop.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

But "pooves" seems to be a widespread variant.

MrP
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The real plural is dwarrows.....

Tolkien used dwarves when accepted plural was dwarfs. Both seem to be now accepted
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Dwarves is from Lord of the Rings. Tolkien says he has chosen to use that word to denote the dwarf race as opposed to those dwarfs we see in real life.
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