Singular for Greek/Latin derived words

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Is there a place on the net where one can find correct singular declensions for typically plural words with Greek and Latin origins?

I was trying to consider the singular for "hyperbole" recently. I decided to cheat and rewrote to permit the plural, but I'd like to know.

Tanti Baci

Chrissy

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(Email Removed) (chrissy) burbled news:(Email Removed):
[nq:1]Is there a place on the net where one can find correct singular declensions for typically plural words with Greek ... the singular for "hyperbole" recently. I decided to cheat and rewrote to permit the plural, but I'd like to know.[/nq]

but they don't have a plural form for "hyperbole". For that you have to check the unabridged M-W 3rd:

(quote) Main Entry:hyperbole Pronunciation:-()l Function:noun Inflected Form:~~s Etymology:Latin, from Greek hyperbol* hyperbole, excess, extravagance, from hyperballein to exceed, from hyper~~ + ballein to cast, throw * more at DEVIL

: extravagant exaggeration that represents something as much greater or less, better or worse, or more intense than it really is or that depicts the impossible as actual (as mile-high ice-cream cones) opposed to litotes (quote)

Any decent unabridged English dictionary will tell you what the singular and plural of our borrowed greco-latin words are. The plural for the singular word "hyperbole" is "hyperboles"; I checked it out just last week.

If you are looking for "correct Latin or Greek spellings of these words, you will have to look them up in Latin and Greek grammars or dictionaries, but there is no compelling reason to foreign spellings in English when there are English spellings that are considered acceptable in formal writing. And, with a very few exceptions, such as indexes/indices and focuses/foci, using the "correct" singulars and plurals for English words derived or borrowed from Latin or Greek will lead only to your being called pretentious, not educated.

There are still a couple of such words where the original singular and plural forms are still used, but not universally so, for example, "datum/data" and "medium/media"; for these two, most native speakers of English prefer the plural form for the singular and godknows what they do about the plural . . . add an /-s/? or maybe they use the same form for both the singular and plural, as with "fish" and "sheep".

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(Deleted silly )
[nq:1]Is there a place on the net where one can find correct singular declensions for typically plural words with Greek ... "hyperbole" recently. I decided to cheat and rewrote to permit the plural, but I'd like to know. Tanti Baci Chrissy[/nq]
And mille baci to you too, bella ragazza.
If you use a good online dictionary and type in the plural form, the entry will also show you the singular. Examples:
TYPE FIND
plural singular

vulvae *****
***** labium
clitorides ********
mammae mamma
testes testis
scrota ***
frenula frenulum
penes *****
spermatozoa spermatozoon

Reinhold (Rey) Aman
"A day without Chrissy is a day without a tumescence"

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[nq:1]Is there a place on the net where one can find correct singular declensions for typically plural words with Greek ... the singular for "hyperbole" recently. I decided to cheat and rewrote to permit the plural, but I'd like to know.[/nq]
But "hyperbole" *is* the singular. It's a perfectly ordinary first declension feminine Greek ending.

sarah

-- Sarah Cannell (Email Removed) http://www.ncf.ca/~ca659

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[nq:1]I was trying to consider the singular for "hyperbole" recently.[/nq]
It *is* singular. The plural would be hyperbolae.

-- Richard -- Spam filter: to mail me from a .com/.net site, put my surname in the headers.

FreeBSD rules!

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[nq:2]I was trying to consider the singular for "hyperbole" recently.[/nq]
[nq:1]It *is* singular. The plural would be hyperbolae. -- Richard -- Spam filter: to mail me from a .com/.net site, put my surname in theheaders. FreeBSD rules![/nq]
radius - radii I used them on a cycling newsgroup this week.

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[nq:2]I was trying to consider the singular for "hyperbole" recently.[/nq]
[nq:1]It *is* singular. The plural would be hyperbolae.[/nq]

I have a very small problem -- too tiny to mention, really -- with litotes.
Mike.

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[nq:2] It *is* singular. The plural would be hyperbolae.[/nq]
[nq:1]I have a very small problem -- too tiny to mention, really -- with litotes.[/nq]
Bill Buckley, whose favorite form of argument is "I'm smarter than you, or at least know words you don't; ergo, you lose," once had a guest who objected to Bill's penchant for overuse of the "not un..." construction. Bill plastered on his smug face and put his guest down properly: "Those are litotes," with "litotes" pronounced /laItoUts/.

-- Martin Ambuhl

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[nq:1](Email Removed) (chrissy) burbled news:(Email Removed):[/nq]
[nq:2]Is there a place on the net where one can ... rewrote to permit the plural, but I'd like to know.[/nq]
[nq:1]Try: http://m-w.com http://www.bartleby.com/61/ but they don't have a plural form for "hyperbole". For that you have to check the unabridged M-W 3rd:[/nq]
I've never thought of it as being countable, any more than, say "humor", as in "his use of humor."

Still, I guess if "cliché" can be countable, then so can 'oyperbowl (as the Piranha brothers pronounced it).

-- Michael West Melbourne, Australia (Expat yank)

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[nq:2] I have a very small problem -- too tiny to mention, really -- with litotes.[/nq]
[nq:1]Bill Buckley, whose favorite form of argument is "I'm smarter than you, or at least know words you don't; ergo, ... construction. Bill plastered on his smug face and put his guest down properly: "Those are litotes," with "litotes" pronounced /laItoUts/.[/nq]
That's funny. Bill Buckley, btw, in British usage recalls a character who spent the sixties orand seventies showing live-tv viewers how to cover up attractive Victorian doors with sheets of hardboard (= Masonite), and whose most famous conclusion was all the wallpaper on a ceiling he'd just done falling on his head.

Did the US Buckley ever mention that great sporting contest, the Hyper-Bowl?

I was listening to what seemed a good BBC radio series on philosophers until the bloke pronounced "Thales" to rhyme with "sails": I immediately lost confidence and interest.

Mike.

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[nq:1]That's funny. Bill Buckley, btw, in British usage recalls a character who spent the sixties orand seventies showing live-tv viewers ... Masonite), and whose most famous conclusion was all the wallpaper on a ceiling he'd just done falling on his head.[/nq]
Try as I might, I cannot figure out what was intended here.

Singular for Greek/Latin derived words

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