Editing English plurals (section)

=== Near-regular plurals ===

In Old and Middle English, voiceless [[fricative consonant|fricatives]] {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/θ/}} [[Consonant voicing and devoicing#English|mutated]] to voiced fricatives /v/ and /ð/ respectively before a voiced ending.<ref name="emerson">
{{cite book
|title =The history of the English language
|first=Oliver Farrar
|last=Emerson
|author-link=Oliver Farrar Emerson
|publisher=Macmillan
|year=1921
|page=299
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjUFAQAAIAAJ
|oclc=317104
}}
</ref> In some words this voicing survives in the modern English plural. In the case of {{IPA|/f/}} changing to {{IPA|/v/}}, the mutation is indicated in the orthography as well; also, a silent ''e'' is added in this case if the singular does not already end with ''-e'':
{{block indent|{{wikitable
|bath||baths||{{IPA|/bɑː'''ð'''z/}}, {{IPA|/bæ'''ð'''z/}}
|-
|mouth<ref name="canadian" group="a">In accents with [[Canadian raising]], the mutation to a voiced consonant can produce a change in the sound of the preceding diphthong ({{IPA|/aʊ/}} or {{IPA|/aɪ/}}).</ref>||mouths||{{IPA|/maʊ'''ð'''z/}}
|-
|calf||calves||{{IPA|/kɑː'''v'''z/}}, {{IPA|/kæ'''v'''z/}}
|-
|leaf||leaves||{{IPA|/liː'''v'''z/}} 
|-
|knife<ref name="canadian"  group="a"/>||knives||{{IPA|/naɪ'''v'''z/}}
|-
|life||lives||{{IPA|/laɪ'''v'''z/}}
}}}}

In addition, there is one word where {{IPA|/s/}} is voiced in the plural:<ref name="emerson" />
{{block indent|{{wikitable
|house||houses<ref name="canadian"  group="a"/>||{{IPA|/haʊ'''z'''ᵻz/}}
}}}}

Many nouns ending in {{IPA|/f/}} or {{IPA|/θ/}} (including all words where {{IPA|/f/}} is represented orthographically by '''gh''' or '''ph''') nevertheless retain the voiceless consonant:
{{block indent|{{wikitable
|- style="vertical-align: text-top"
|moth||moths<ref group="a">Voiced {{IPA|/mɒ'''ð'''z/}} is rare but does occur in [[New England]] and Canada.{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}}</ref>
|-
|proof||proofs
}}}}
Some can do either:
{{block indent|{{wikitable
|dwarf<ref group="a">For ''dwarf'', the common form of the plural was ''dwarfs''—as, for example, in [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''—until [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] popularized ''dwarves''; he intended the changed spelling to differentiate the "[[Dwarf (Tolkien)|dwarf]]" [[Race (fantasy)|fantasy race]] in his novels from the cuter and simpler beings common in fairy tales, but his usage has since spread. Multiple astronomical [[Dwarf star|dwarf stars]] and multiple non-mythological [[Dwarfism|short human beings]], however, remain ''dwarfs''.</ref>||dwarfs/dwarves
|-
|hoof||hoofs/hooves
|-
|elf||elfs/elves
|-
|roof||roofs<ref group="a">Commonly voiced as {{IPA|/ɹuː'''v'''z/}} to rhyme with ''hooves'', but ''rooves'' is a rare archaic spelling.</ref>
|-
|staff<ref group="a">For ''staff'' ({{IPA|/stæf/}} or {{IPA|/stɑːf/}}) in the sense of "a body of employees", the plural is always ''staff''; otherwise, both ''staffs'' and ''staves'' ({{IPA|/steɪvz/}}) are acceptable, except in compounds, such as ''flagstaffs''. ''Staves'' is rare in North America except in the sense of "magic rod", or the [[staff (music)|musical notation tool]]; ''stave'' of a barrel or cask is a [[back-formation]] from ''staves'', which is its plural.  (See the [[#Plural to singular by back-formation|Plural to singular by back-formation]] section below.)
</ref>||staffs/staves
|-
|turf||turfs/turves (latter rare)
}}}}