Can the word potato be plural

There’s an old saying in English that goes “you say potato; I say pot-ah-to.” It’s a play off the same saying “you say tomato; I say te-mah-to.” While there’s actually only one pronunciation of potato, it reminds us that variants of the same word often mean the same thing.

Incidentally, potato is also the basis for another set of confusing spelling variants. The plural of this noun is potatoes. Or is it potatos?

Some words that end in vowels take the -es suffix as plurals, while others take the -s suffix, so it is not always easy to remember which word belongs in which category.

Where does potatoes fit? What is the plural of potato? Let’s find out.

What is the Plural of Potato?

In this post, I will compare potatoes vs. potatos. I will outline which of these spelling is correct and which spelling you should avoid.

Plus, I will show you how to use a mnemonic tool to help you remember whether potatoes or potatos is a better choice.

When to Use Potatoes

How do you spell potato? The singular spelling of potato doesn’t contain the letter “E,” so it is somewhat understandable that people would get confused when the plural does.

• The correct plural spelling is potatoes.
• Potatos is a common misspelling.

Potatoes, of course, are a type of vegetable that come from the potato plant. The edible part of the plant is an underground tuber.

Potatoes are a plentiful crop that originated in South America. They are very starchy, and are a good source of vitamins B6 and C. They are an important part of many traditional dishes.

Here are some sentences that contain the word potatoes,

• “Honey, when you go to the store today, will you remember to buy a bag of potatoes?” asked Charlotte.
• The Clatsop family made their fortune growing potatoes on their farm in Idaho.
• The spud is the very emblem of doing it your own way, and lately chefs have been experimenting with potatoes of every personality… –The Wall Street Journal

When to Use Potatos

The word potatos is a common misspelling of potatoes—although, as you can see below, it really isn’t that common.

Since the singular noun potato ends in the letter O, it is easy to see why many writers are tempted to pluralize it to potatos. After all, burrito becomes burritos, semipro becomes semipros, and banjo becomes banjos.

Still, the only standard plural form of potato is potatoes. The chart below graphs potatos vs. potatoes in English books published since 1800,

Even though this chart is not exhaustive in its scope (it only counts books, not magazines or newspapers), it is accurate enough to show that almost no one has used potatos in a published book for at least 200 years.

Trick to Remember the Difference

Since potatoes and potatos are so similar, it can be difficult to remember which one is correct. Still, here is a helpful trick to remember potatoes vs. potatos.

Potatoes has an E in it, and potatoes are edible, so the shared E between these words is your mental clue that potatoes is the correct variant of this word.

Summary

Is it potatos or potatoes? Potatoes is the plural form of the noun potato, which represents an edible tuberous vegetable that is part of the traditional cuisines of many cultures.

Potatos is a misspelling of potatoes that rarely, if ever, takes place in edited prose.

Remember, you can always check this site any time you need help with confusing words.

Which is correct potatos or potatoes?

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a potato as, “an erect South American herb (Solanum tuberosum) of the nightshade family widely cultivated for its edible starchy tuber”.  The correct plural form of potato, also according to Merriam Webster, is “potatoes”, and not the maybe more obvious and intuitive “potatos”, which would appear to be the easier way of pluralizing the word.  The reason for this exception to the construction of plural nouns has to do with etymology, which will be discussed later.

To make a long story short, English borrows (or just completely steals) most of its words from other languages rather than actually creating its own words, but that actually stems from the fact that the English speaking world also just sailed around the world “borrowing” (stealing) from every culture they discovered because that was just more exciting than actually creating something of their own.  So, in English words, the “rules” for pronunciation, spelling, and pluralization are often just suggestions because the exceptions often outnumber the rules.  

Can Potato be spelled with an E?

According to Grammarist.com, yes, technically some dictionaries list the word potatoe as a variant spelling of potato, but the variation is not very widely recognized, so if you are writing an academic paper or something along those lines, it might be a better idea to just keep your spelling to the simpler “potato”.  That way, you can avoid any confusion and not lose any points.  

The way language seems to work is that the things that are most used become the things that are correct.  For example, the commonality and usage of the word “selfie” actually caused the word to be added to the dictionary several years ago.  Culture dictates the prevalence of words, which in turn dictates the validity of certain spellings, pronunciations, or definitions.  Several words change their meaning or spelling over time due to cultural influence.

Why does the plural of potato have an E?

Technically, there is no actual lexical definition for why the plural of certain words differs, but it can result from a variety of sources.  First, like it was mentioned above, words, definitions, grammar, and pluralizations are all culturally influenced.  Therefore, the pluralization of potato may change over time .  Secondly,  the word actually has very distinct South American roots, whereas most of the words in English that follow the “ending in -o” pattern and have a more regular pluralization pattern come from Latin or Italian, while words that derive their origin from the Spanish or Greek languages often have different pluralizations.  

The following words are examples of plural nouns with the grammar rule to add es for o form plurals: veto (vetoes), archipelago (archipelagoes), buffalo (buffaloes), innuendo (innuendoes), mango (mangoes), and embargo (embargoes).  The majority (if not all) of these words derive their roots from Spanish or Greek origin rather than Latin or Italian.  Keep in mind that some o-ending words don’t fit in with this set of nouns though, like tacos or zoos. 

The History and Origin of the Word

The root of a word (no pun intended) and its history are called the word’s etymology.  The etymology of the word potato is derived from the Carib language of Haiti, and the original word was “batata”, which is translated sweet potato.  When the European Spaniards conquered much of South America in the sixteenth and seventeenth century (again, with the European conquests of the known world), they inevitably stole a lot of the South American culture, language, and food staples, incorporating it into their own language and culture.  The word “patata” in Spanish is the word that we get potato from today.

According to EtymOnline.com, “The name later (1590s) was extended to the common white potato, from Peru, which was at first (mistakenly) called Virginia potato, or, because at first it was of minor importance compared to the sweet potato, bastard potato. Spanish invaders in Peru began to use white potatoes as cheap food for sailors in the 1530s.”        

Examples of the Word in Context

Learning a word’s proper context is the best tool for learning how to use it properly in conversation or in writing.  Here are some very basic examples of the words potato and potatoes in their proper context.

• “Sir, would you like a baked potato as your side for that entree?”
• “Hey mom, do you need me to grab some potatoes from the grocery store for dinner tonight?  I know you mentioned wanting mashed potatoes and a veggie medley, but all we have are carrots.”
• “The Western World stole several things from the indigenous peoples of North and South America, including their cultures, their languages, and their food staples, like corn in North America and potatoes in South America.”  

Synonyms for Potato

Finding synonyms for a word can also be a great way to learn how to use it properly, because you can compare it to the usage of similar words and use that to decide whether or not you are using it properly.  Some common synonyms for potato are:

• Spuds, or Tuber, the actual fruit of a potato plant, the starchy part that we eat
• Root vegetable, the broad term to describe a family of plants that produce food underground

In Summary

Hopefully this has helped you understand not only the plural of the word potato, but why the word potato has such an interesting rule set in the English language.  Now you know how to use it properly, so next time it comes up in a paper or in conversation, you are fully prepared!

Sources:

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/potato
2. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=potato 
3. https://grammarist.com/plurals/potato-and-potatoes-tomato-and-tomatoes/ 
4. https://thewordcounter.com/words-that-start-with-d/
5. https://thewordcounter.com/midnight-and-noon/
6. https://thewordcounter.com/is-vs-are/ 

potato. noun. po·​ta·​to | pə-ˈtā-tō plural potatoes.

Potatoes
The plural of potato is Potatoes.

Why does the plural of potato have an E?

Potato and tomato belong to a set of nouns that end with the letter -o that form plurals by adding -es. Other plurals formed by adding -es to words ending with -o are echoes, torpedoes and vetoes.

What is the plural of tomato?

tomato. noun. to·​ma·​to | tə-ˈmā-tō , -ˈmä- plural tomatoes.

What is a singular word for potatoes?

How do you spell potato? The singular spelling of potato doesn’t contain the letter “E,” so it is somewhat understandable that people would get confused when the plural does. The correct plural spelling is potatoes. Potatos is a common misspelling.

What is the plural of fish?

When you are talking about more than one kind or species of fish, both ‘fish’ and ‘fishes‘ are ok to use. There are many different fishes in our pond. [=There are many kinds of fish in our pond.] These three tropical fish have unique coloring. She studies all the fishes of the sea.

What is the plural of mango?

The English language can be complicated, and the plural of mango certainly falls into that, “how do I spell that again?” category. The long and short answer to the Mangos vs. Mangoes dilemma is that you can use either spelling, and you’ll still be correct. I know, kind of boring.

What is the plural of avocado?

The farmers came up with a new name: avocado. They informed dictionary publishers of the change — and that the plural was spelled “avocados,” not “avocadoes” — and named their own group the California Avocado Association.

What is the plural of onion?

onions
onion ​Definitions and Synonyms ​‌‌

How do British spell tomato?

How do the British spell tomato? The British spell tomato the same way everyone else does. There is no difference so the correct spelling in British English is “tomato”.

What is the plural for monkey?

noun. mon·​key | ˈməŋ-kē plural monkeys.

What is the plural of mosquito?

noun. plural mosquitoes also mosquitos. Britannica Dictionary definition of MOSQUITO. [count] : a small flying insect that bites the skin of people and animals and sucks their blood.

Whats the plural for zucchini?

noun. zuc·​chi·​ni | zu̇-ˈkē-nē plural zucchini or zucchinis.

What is the plural of glass?

Plural. glasses. A pair of glasses. The plural form of glass; more than one (kind of) glass.

What is the plural of piano?

pianos
pianos – Simple English Wiktionary.

What is the plural of octopus?

Octopuses ✅
“Octopuses” gives the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. Generally, when a noun enters into English, it is pluralized as an English word rather than in its original form. Octopuses may sound peculiar to some, but this is the preferred plural.

What is the plural of lettuce?

lettuce /ˈlɛtəs/ noun. plural lettuces.

What is the plural of zoo?

zoo /ˈzuː/ noun. plural zoos.

What is the plural of banana?

banana /bəˈnænə/ Brit /bəˈnɑːnə/ noun. plural bananas. banana.

What is the plural of Cherry?

cherry /ˈtʃeri/ noun. plural cherries.

What is the plural of Flamingo?

flamingo. noun. fla·​min·​go | flə-ˈmiŋ-go plural flamingos or flamingoes.

картофель, картошка, картофелина, дырка, картофельный

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

a potato twice as big as normal size — картофелина размером в два раза больше нормального  
peanuts, potato chips, and other snack foods — арахис, картофельные чипсы и другие закуски  
potato bug — колорадский жук  
potato digger — картофелекопалка  
to drop smth. like a hot potato — поспешить избавиться от чего-л.  
potato peelings — картофельные очистки  
to roast a potato in ashes — запекать картофель в золе  
potato harvester — картофелекопалка  
spinner-type potato digger — швыряльный картофелекопатель  
potato eczema — картофельная сыпь; бардяная сыпь; мокрец  
late potato — поздний картофель  
potato patty — картофельная котлета  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

potation  — пьянство, питье, глоток, спиртной напиток

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): potato
мн. ч.(plural): potatoes