Join FunTrivia for Free: Hourly trivia games, quizzes, community, and more!
Fun Trivia
Ask FunTrivia: Questions and Answers
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


Does the word mucus have a plural? If so, how would it be spelled?

Question #121642. Asked by 29CoveRoad.

Shiningstar7
Answer has 2 votes
Shiningstar7
18 year member
91 replies

Answer has 2 votes.
muci

Number Singular Plural
nominative mūcus mūcī

link http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mucus

May 29 2011, 11:38 PM
avatar
abechstein star
Answer has 3 votes
Currently Best Answer
abechstein star
15 year member
128 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
"Mucus" is a collective noun, like "blood" or "lymph" or "phlegm", and doesn't have a plural.
link http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mucus?view=uk

This site refers to nouns of this type as a "mass noun"; another site refers to them as "uncountable":
link http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/mucus

Let me elaborate a little: the English word "mucus" doesn't have a plural form, but the Latin word "mucus", from which the English word is taken, would have the plural form "muci" (though I can't imagine any plural usage in Latin, either).

Source: the above sites and 11 years of studying Latin.
The Wiktionary page cited earlier refers specifically to the Latin "mucus", which is why there's an apparent contradiction. That page also lists the English "mucus" as "uncountable".

May 29 2011, 11:40 PM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion