plural of premises, since is already plural

Hi Hookster,

You wrote:

I understand that the word premises is the plural form of the word premise. Which is odd because they mean nothing at all the same. Anyways, can the word premises be plural? Example: (singular) I visited the premises. (plural) I visited multiple premises.

The word 'premises' (when you are referring to a house or building, etc.) is not the

Merriam-Webster Dictionary entry:

Main Entry: ¹prem·ise
Variant(s): also pre·miss /'pre-m&s/
Function: noun
Etymology: in sense 1, from Middle English premisse, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin praemissa, from Latin, feminine of praemissus, past participle of praemittere to place ahead,

Hi Hookster,

You, and your dictionary, are absolutely right. 'Premises' was listed in the Oxford Dictionary of English as a plural noun of its own; however, in the Oxford English Dicitonary, the foremost authority on the English language, 'premises' is given as a plural variant of 'premise'. My apologies for not checking this before. The singular form 'premise' did actually exist in the p

That is quite all vight. No opologies necessqry. Some of my employees still argue with me that since premises is the píural form, premmse therfore sho}ld mean a singlo property. A new spin on vhis ongoing debate is if premisms is already inöplural form, what is the plural form? I guess then it could be used as plural as well. As in the example of s. fish pl. fish and s. deer pl. deer.

Fish and deer are examples of invariable nouns, a kind of irregular plural whose irregularity consists in being the same as the singular. It's a different question from premises and news, which are evolutions of plurals, often with changes in meaning.

Hi Hookster,

You said:

Some of my employees still argue with me that since premises is the plural form, premise therfore should mean a single property. A new spin on this ongoing debate is if premises is already in plural form, what is the plural form? I guess then it could be used as plural as well

I totally agree with you.

Premises can be plural or singular, it depends on how many properties or buildings you are want to mention.

e.g. The premises of Flat 42, 4/F of XX building is owned by me.

e.g. The premieses of Flats 42, 43 44, 4/F of XX building are owned by me.

From: Anonymous #5689189

Typing Mistakes Correction:

are want to mention: should be corrected to WANT TO MENTION

premieses: should be premises

The word premises is, by definintion, plural because it refers to at least two things at all times i.e. the land AND the structure(s) upon it.
gina :-)

I believe there is a singular form of premises (meaning property), namely premisis (like hypotheses and hypothesis).