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Study Resource: English nouns with ‘-ves’ plurals

By: Isabel McKay

The following nouns, which end with -f or -fe, have plurals that end in -ves.

Singular
Plural
Vowel change?
Notes
leaf
leaves

no

wife
wives

yes

knife
knives

yes

roof
(rooves)/roofs

sometimes

in some dialects, roof has a short vowel, so there is a vowel change

hoof
hooves/(hoofs)

usually

in most dialects, hoof has a short vowel, so there is a vowel change

loaf
loaves

no

wolf
wolves

no

calf
calves/calfs

no

thief
thieves

no

half
halves

no

life
lives

yes

shelf
shelves

no

dwarf
dwarves/dwarfs

no

wharf
wharves/wharfs

no

staff (“walking stick”)
(staves)*/staffs

yes (in irregular)

the -ves plural is very old-fashioned but it is sometimes used in old writing or in historical fiction

elf
elves

no

*In the modern world, the word staves is only really used to talk about barrel staves (sticks that hold barrels together). At some point, though, English speakers forgot that barrel staves was the plural of barrel “staff” and so now say that barrel staves (pl.) is the plural of barrel stave (sg.) instead!

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