Leafs is not a word - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

The correct way to spell the plural of ‘leaf’ is ‘leaves’, if you are talking about the definition of leaf as a noun.

Leaves is the grammatically correct way to spell the plural word of the noun leaf

We can use leafs, only if we add the apostrophe which indicates possession as ‘leaf’s’. That is, something belongs to the leaf, however, grammatically speaking the correct way to spell it is leaves, if you are referring to there being more than one leaf. This is because many nouns that end in «f», most of the time have «ves» changed and added towards the end, replacing the «f» ending.

There are however some instances where «leafs» is used when «leaf» is used as a verb (the act of flipping a page). Even though, it is not commonly used, it is still worth noting that in this case it would be appropriate to use to indicate that «she/he leafs through the book».

Examples of how to use the plural tense ‘leaves’ as a noun:

Fall has just begun, you can see all the leaves change color
It is such a hassle having to pick up all of the leaves on my porch every morning.

The plural tense of «leaf» should be pronounced as «leaves»

However, even though it is grammatically incorrect sometimes we also tend to pronounce it as «leafs», but it should always be spelled out as «leaves».

The plural of the word “leaf” is “leaves.” The NHL team in Toronto is properly the “Maple Leafs.” I suppose what they’re telling us is that they’re multiple avatars of the Maple Leaf symbol, not a bushel of leaves of the botanical variety. My online dictionary gives “leafs” as an acceptable secondary spelling, but I don’t buy it.

What is the plural of the leaf? Is it leaves or leaves?

“Leaf” is the singular form for the foliage that is growing off the twig in a tree, bush, and other plants. The plural of “leaf” is “leaves.” There is no such form as leafs; however, by using an apostrophe, you will the singular possessive form for “leaf.”

singular — — — — — — — — — — — — — -leaf Ex: That leaf is tuning brown.

plural — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -leaves Ex: The leaves on the tree are covered with snow.

singular possessive — — — — — — leaf’s Ex: That leaf’s stem is curling a bit.

plural possessive — — — — — — — — leaves’ Ex: Those leaves’ stems are curling somewhat.

Why we use leaves as plural of leaf?

Answers: We use leaves as plural of leaf, because there is a rule in English grammar that several nouns ending in — f or — fe form their plural by changing -for — fe into ‘v’ and adding — es; as,

Leaf, leaves / thief, thieves / wife, wives / wolf, wolves / shelf, shelves /knife, knives / calf, calve / life, lives / loaf, loaves.

Why is plural form of leaf (leaves)?

«What is the plural of leaf? Is it leafs or leaves?»

Wow! Seventy people have already answered this question! Well, I’ve skimmed through quite a lot of the answers and I think maybe I can actually add something to the conversation. Let’s see…

As many have already explained, when you are referring to a «leaf» that grows on a plant, the plural is «leaves» (just as many other nouns that end with «f» change the «f» to «v» and add «es.»)

Now that we have that obvious answer out of the way, lets think about other uses of «leaf/leaves.» The thing is, we don’t always use “leaf” as a noun.

Leafs vs. Leaves!

Pronunciation

This issue is both a pronunciation and a grammar issue.

Leaves has a ‘v’ sound which is just the voiced version of ‘f.’

Grammar

The grammar is interesting here. Most of the time somebody says ‘leafs’ they’re using it incorrectly.

Leaves is both the plural of the word ‘leaf’ as well as a form of the verb ‘to leave.’

An interesting note is that ‘to leaf’ is also a verb. It means to quickly look through many pages or different papers. One of the forms of this verb is also ‘leafs.’

Example Time!

1) The leaves are falling from the tree

2) Dad leaves for work at 7:00 in the morning.

3) She leafs through the pages of the book to get an idea of what it’s about.

In conclusion

If you forget the rules, it’s probably always ‘leaves.’ We don’t use the word ‘leafs’ very often.

The difference between Leafs and leaves.

Leaves
As a noun, a leaf is a small, green and flat part of a plant that grows directly from a branch, trunk or root. It is the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration. Its plural is leaves.

Leafs

As a verb, leaf is to put out new leaves. It may also mean to turn over the pages of a book or the papers in a pile, reading them quickly or casually.

Examples in sentences of both the leafs and leaves

1. He begged to leave after plucking several leaves.

He leafs through a stack of notes.
It leafs immediately it rains.

Conclusion

It is therefore obvious that leafs is a verb of which the ‘s’ used can only be included when talking about pronouns in third person singular form, that is he, she, it or a single name.

Leaves is the plural form of the noun leaf and as such, their usage are different as shown in the above examples.

Leaf and leaves

This is a spelling rule for nouns in English

If the noun ends in an — f or -fe, in the plural it changes to -ves

Singular — F

Plural — VES

Other examples which behave similarly

1 wife — 2 wives

1 wolf — 2 wolves

1 knife — 2 knives

1 life — 2 lives

1 loaf of bread — 2 loaves of bread

Exceptions to the rule

1 roof — 2 roofs

I have a big house, it has 2 roofs.

1 chief — 2 chiefs

There are 2 chiefs in the village

1 chef — 2 chefs

There are 2 chefs in this kitchen

Some nouns can take both endings — both are correct

I scarf — 2 scarfs or 2 scarves

She was wearing 2 scarfs/ scarves because it was so cold

Remember your verb — noun agreement

This knife is sharp

These knives are sharp

This loaf of bread is fresh

These loaves are not fresh

The difference between leafs and leave
Leaf as a noun refers to the wide, narrow, big or small green parts of a plant or a tree, that usually falls down in autumn (fall).

Example:

This tree is very big, it has so many levels, so it makes big shadow.

Plural of leaf is leaves, never leafs.

However, it can refer to a verb as well.

When we use leaf as a verb it refers to the growth of the leaves on a plant.

Example:

It is springtime. Many trees start to leaf and blossom.

Leaf as a verb can also mean to turn over pages in a book. So if we use the verb for the third person singular (he, she, it) in Present Simple, then the form will be leafs.

Marry leafs the pages of the book so fast, to show her method of skimming and scaning a book.

Leafs or leaves what is the difference

The word LEAF is the green, flat part of a tree or plant, usually hanging below the flower or on the branch.

LEAF is the singular form of the word

LEAVES are the plural form of the word

The word LEAF/ LEAVES are both NOUNS

The word “leafs” is NOT a real word.

You can add an apostrophe to the word leaf, making it «leaf’s», to indicate that is something belonging to the leaf or part of the leaf. Showing ownership

Firstly – use apostrophe “s” when the word is SINGULAR.

I.e., Leaf’s

Example:

How are veins important to the leaf’s function?

Secondly – use “s” to make the noun plural, then apostrophe when the word is PLURAL.

I.e., Leaves’

Example:

How are veins important to the leaves’ function?

Now you understand it better, I hope?

Now please «leaf» me alone!! 😂😂

I will make it poetic

So the meanings of these two you can easily pick

One day ONE LEAF fell on my feet

I looked up at the tree

and stared at the green LEAVES in glee

I call it Leaves instead of leafs

For it’s the plural of one leaf I see,

You may wonder why not leafs

Coz of the rules of English that you believe

That’s because Leafs in the dictionary does not exist

So Leafs instead of Leaves we should not insist.

-Teacher Love-

……………………………………………………………

answer answer

What is the difference between leafs and leaves?

Leaf functions as a noun. As a noun, the leaf is the small, green and flat part of a plant that grows from a branch, trunk or root.

The plural form of leaf is leaves.

Leafs is not a plural form of leaf

Example:

I saw a caterpillar eating a leaf on a tree.

In Autumn the wind blows and the leaves fall off the tree.

Did you know that leave is used as a verb, but leaves is used as a noun?

Please do not confuse these words:

Leaf — Singular Noun

The caterpillar ate an entire leaf.

Leaves — Plural Noun

I saw the leaves fall off the tree.

Leave — Present tense Verb

Please leave the classroom immediately.

While these words look similar, they have different meanings and can be used in different ways. It is important to learn the differences as the similarity can be confusing.

Leafs

Leafs is a verb, which is an action word.

It has two meanings.

When a plant or flower leafs, this means it is putting out new leaves.

When someone leafs through a book, it means they are turning the pages quickly.

Leaves

Leaves is a noun, which is an object word.

Leaves are parts of a plant.

But there is an additional meaning to leaves.

A more advanced meaning of leaves is when someone goes away in third person present tense, for example «John leaves to France tomorrow»

Examples.

Harry leafs through his book trying to find the right page.

My carrot plant leafs in July, when it is ready for harvest.

Look at all these leaves on the floor, the season must be changing.

Susan leaves to the airport in one hour.

Remember

Learn the differences so you do not get mixed up!

Leaf can be used as a noun or verb which means there are different plural and singular forms of these words depending on whether you use the noun or verb.

Definitions and rules:

Leaf as a noun is the green organ borne by trees and plants. There are other definitions of this word but this is the most common one.

Leaf as a verb is usually used to describe someone turning the pages of a book quickly. This is often followed by the word through, i.e. Leaf through.

As a noun the rules for the plural of leaf state that «f» must be changed to «ves». This gives us the word «leaves».

As a verb the third person or plural when used with pronouns like «he», «she», and «it» state that we add an «s» to the word. This gives us the word «leafs».

Some examples:

Leaf (Noun — Singular) — I found a beautiful red leaf on the ground today as it’s starting to become Autumn.
Leaf (Noun — Plural) — When it starts to get cold in Autumn there are many leaves all over the city.

Leaf (Verb — Singular) — I will leaf through the grammar book later to see if I can find the answer.
Leaf (Verb — Plural) — He leafs through the same book every day and I don’t know why.

To conclude:

When using the word leaf make sure to know if you need the noun or verb and then determine whether you need the singular or plural.

Leafs or leaves??

«Leaves» has two meanings:

Leaves — verb
He leaves the apartment building at 1 pm every afternoon for lunch.

Leaves — plural noun form

There are so many leaves falling down in autumn!

Leafs is incorrect — it is NOT an English word

It depends on whether or not you’re using ‘leaves’ as a noun or as a verb

Examples:

Verb:

He leaves his desk dirty every single day!

Noun:

The leaves are turning red, orange and brown now that it’s winter

ADDITIONAL INFO AND DEFINITIONS:

leave noun

1a: permission to do something

b: authorized especially extended absence from duty or employment

2: an act of leaving : DEPARTURE

leave verb

leaved; leaving

intransitive verb

Plural Nouns: Regular vs. Irregular

Regular plural Nouns vs. Nouns that change spelling when plural

Regular nouns become plural by adding «-s» or «-es.» However, there are many nouns that undergo spelling changes when being made plural. Your question specifically relates to words that end in «-f» or «-fe» In this case, you cannot simply add «-s» or «-es» you must change the «-f» to a «-v» and add «-es.» When you encounter «-fe» you change it to a «-ve» and add «-s.»

Words ending in «-f» «-fe»

So the word «half» becomes «halves.» The word «leaf» becomes «leaves.» The word «hoof» becomes «hooves.» The word «knife» becomes «knives.» The word «wife» becomes «wives.»

Exceptions

Keep in mind that even this rule has exceptions. «Roof,» when made plural is «roofs.»

What is the difference between leaves and leaves?

As nouns the difference between leaf and leave

That leaf is the usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants while leave is (cricket) the action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball or leave can be permission to be absent; time away from one’s work.

Leaf Plural: The plural form of leaf is leaves. Few commuters on buses and trains leaf through magazines or newspapers.

He leafs through all the newspapers in the morning because it is his job to monitors news reports.

Is it correct to say leaves?

The plural of leaf is always leaves. Unfortunately, there is no clever way of knowing which nouns ending f or fe follow which rules. You have to know. (For example, you have to know that leaf becomes leaves, but belief becomes beliefs.)

Why do they call leaves leaves?

It comes from the Proto-Germanic *laubaz, a word for the same exact part of a plant that “leaf” refers to. Leaves is plural for leaf, which to the best of my knowledge have nothing to do with the verb leave.

What are the 3 types of leaves?

1 There are three basic types of leaf arrangements found in woody trees and shrubs: alternate, opposite, and whorled.

Leaf functions as a noun and a verb so here we have «leafs «which is a third-person verb but leaves is the plural form of leaf which is the small, green, and flat part of a plant that grows directly from a branch, trunk or root.

a flattened structure of a higher plant, typically green and blade-like, that is attached to a stem directly or via a stalk. Leaves are the main organs of photosynthesis and transpiration.

The plant needs a period of dormancy before it leafs and flowers.

many of the trees had lost their leaves!

As nouns the difference between leafs and leaves

is that leafs is (nonstandard) while leaves is or leaves can be .

As verbs the difference between leafs and leaves

is that leafs is (leaf) while leaves is (leave).

Grammatically correct plural of «leaf» is «leaves». This is the rule for all nouns that end with «f», like wife-wives, loaf-loaves, calf-calves, self-selves, shelf-shelves.

«Leafs», however, can be used as a plural of a proper noun, as in «Toronto Maple Leafs» (Canadian ice hockey team). In this case, we write «leafs» because you can simply add a plural ending »-s» to its common noun counterpart, even if it ends with -f (as long as it`s a proper noun).

In the same way, for example, if you started a cooking blog and wanted to name it «Busy wives», you could as well spell it as «Busy wifes». But in other cases, (not as a name/title), plural of «wife» is «wives».

Leafs or leaves what is the difference?

Leaf or leaves what is the difference?

Leaf is a noun. Leaf is a small,green,flat part of a plant that branches out from the trunk of the tree.

Leaves is plural form of leaf.

If you say leafs, you will be making a grammatically error.

The leaves are scattered all over the yard.

That is plural form of leaf.

When we use leaf in a sentence, we can say, i found a leaf in my house.

Leaf and leaves meaning.

Leaf and leaves, are nouns.

Plural of leaf is leaves.

Remember when to use them in sentences.

Its singular meaning one leaf, and plural meaning many leaves.

Leafs or leaves

“Leaves” is the correct way of pluralising “leaf”. If you say “leafs”, you will be making a grammatical error. If you want to say “leaf’s”, you can do so when talking about possessions.

what is the difference?

As nouns the difference between leafs and leaves

is that leafs is (nonstandard) while leaves is orleavescan be .

As verbs the difference between leafs and leaves

is that leafs is (leaf) while leaves is (leave).

Examples of Leafs

Pick a leaf and look at it.
He trembled like a leaf as he said this.

Examples of Leaves

Colored leaves on the ground
«He leaves the building,» which means that he exits the building.

Conclusion — Leafs or leaves

Leave is a derived term for leaf.

Leaf is a synonym for leave.

As nouns, the difference between leaf and leave

is that leaf is the usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants while leave is (cricket) the action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball or leave can be permitted to be absent; time away from one’s work.

As verbs, the difference between leaf and leave

is that leaf is to produce leaves; put forth foliage while leave is to cause or allow (something) to remain as available; to refrain from taking (something) away; to stop short of consuming or otherwise depleting (something) entirely or leave can be to give leave to; allow; permit; let; grant or leave can be (rare) to produce leaves or foliage

Leaf as a noun:

Anything resembling the leaf of a plant.

Leaf as a verb (intransitive):

To produce leaves; put forth foliage.

Leave as a verb (intransitive, obsolete):

To remain (behind); to stay.
Leave as a verb (transitive, archaic):

To stop, desist from; to «leave off» (+ noun / gerund).

Leave as a noun:

Permission to be absent; time away from one’s work.

Examples:

«I’ve been given three weeks’ leave by my boss.»

Источник

Is Leafs a real word?

The plural of “leaf” is “leaves”, but the plural of “Leaf” is “Leafs”. If a plant sprouts a leaf, and then another, it has two leaves. But when the Canadian emblem, the Maple Leaf is used to represent a sports team, they are the Maple Leafs, not the Maple Leaves.

Why is a page called a leaf?

Etymology. The word “page” comes from the Latin term pagina, which means, a “a written page, leaf, sheet”, which in turn comes from an earlier meaning “to create a row of vines that form a rectangle”. The Latin word pagina derives from the verb pangere, which means to stake out boundaries when planting vineyards.

What is the difference between a leaf and a page?

A page is typically side of paper, while a leaf is a sheet of paper. So a leaf of paper could contain two pages if double sided or just one page if single sided.

What is a page as a person?

1 : a person employed (as by a hotel or the United States Congress) to carry messages or run errands. 2 : a boy being trained to be a knight in the Middle Ages. page.

What is a book leaf called?

A folio (from Latin foliō, abl. Each leaf of a folio book thus is one half the size of the original sheet. This contrasts with a quarto, folding each sheet twice, and octavo, folding each sheet three times.

What is a folio book?

A folio is one or more full sheets of paper on which four pages of text are printed; two on either side. Each sheet is folded once to produce two leaves, so each leaf is one half of the paper’s original size. These pages would be cut open by the printer, or the book buyer would do it themselves with a knife.

How many pages is a leaf?

two pages

How do you make a folio book?

Step 1: Stack Your Paper Neatly in (at Least 4) Piles of 8 Sheets.
Step 2: Fold Each Stack in Half.
Step 3: Unfold the Paper and Turn Over.
Step 4: Staple the Pages Together.
Step 5: Glue the Binding Onto the Folios.
Step 6: Trim the Bound Folios.
Step 7: Mark and Cut Out the Cover Boards.
Step 8: Make the Book Spine.

Does Staples do book binding?

We offer a variety of attractive binding options, including Cerlox, coil, and bookbinding. We can also add tabs and inserts. Plus — we can fold it… cut it…

How do I make my bookmarks beautiful?

DIY Bookmarks Ideas

Heart. Create a felt, corner bookmark in a variety of adorable shapes.
Duct Tape. Use some duct tape to create fun, chic designs.
Buttons. Some adorable buttons and paper clips can come together to make the simplest and more charming of bookmarks.
Paper Clips.
Tassel.
Harry Potter.
Hand-drawn.
Elastic.

What kind of paper is used for bookmarks?

Paper Bookmarks Cardstock

What does it mean to bookmark a page?

A bookmark is a place holder for a web page that will allow you quick access to that page instead of having to browse to it or search for it. Instead of typing a web page in Google, clicking the bookmark will direct you to that page immediately.

What is the use of bookmark in browser?

A bookmark is a web browser feature used to save a web site’s URL address for future reference. Bookmarks save user and browser time, which is especially useful for Web pages with long URLs or accessing a specific part of the site that might not be the homepage for the site.

What is bookmark or Favourite in browser?

A “favorite” or “bookmark” is a website address that you manually save to your Web browser of choice for easy retrieval. Windows Internet Explorer is the only major Web browser that uses the term “favorites.” A URL saved for future browsing in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari is called a “bookmark.”

Why do we need to bookmark a website?

A bookmark is a saved shortcut that directs your browser to a specific webpage. Saving bookmarks allows you to easily access your favorite locations on the Web. All major web browsers allow you to create bookmarks, though each browser provides a slightly different way of managing them.

How do I find my bookmarks?

To check all your bookmark folders:

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Chrome app .
At the top right, tap More. Bookmarks. If your address bar is at the bottom, swipe up on the address bar. Tap Star .
If you’re in a folder, at the top left, tap Back .
Open each folder and look for your bookmark.

What does a bookmark look like?

For the most part, the bookmarks feature can usually be identified by a star-shaped icon located on the right side of your browser’s main search bar.

Where is the favorite button?

You can also press ALT+C on your keyboard. The Favorites Center is now shown. Click the “Pin the Favorites Center” button in the top left corner of the Favorites Center. The Favorites Center is now displayed in the Internet Explorer window.

How do I get the favorites bar to appear?

Right-click anywhere at the very top of the browser window (A). From the drop-down menu that appears, click Favorites bar (B) to toggle it on and off.

How do I get my favorites bar back?

Click the “Tools” menu on the top and select “Toolbars” to display the toolbars submenu. Click the “Favorites Bar” option. A check mark will be displayed beside it. You should now see the Favorites Bar on your browser toolbar.

How do I add favorites to my computer?

Android devices

Open the Google Chrome web browser.
Use the address bar at the top of the screen to navigate to the web page you’d like to bookmark.
In the upper-right corner of the browser, tap the. icon.
At the top of the screen, tap the star icon.

Источник

Leafs or Leaves, what’s the difference? Nothing is more confusing than two words that sound exactly the same but are spelled differently.

Leafs and Leaves is a set of homonyms that aren’t seen very often but can leave you scratching your head when they do.

Homonyms, which are words that sound alike or are spelled alike, can be confusing, even to veteran writers.

Read on to find out the difference between these two words, and see some examples of how to use them successfully in a sentence.

In the most basic form, the plural of a single foliage leaf is leaves. You can pluck a leaf from a tree, but the tree still has many leaves.

Leaves also has the secondary definition of ‘departing’.

So where does leafs come in?

To understand leafs, we must first understand the singular form of the word, leaf.

Leaf doesn’t always refer to the green growths on plants. The secondary definition of leaf is a sheet of paper.

If you are taking one single piece of parchment from a sketchbook, it can be said that you’re taking a leaf of parchment.

Someone who leafs through a book is someone rapidly turning the pages, usually only skimming what’s within.

Leaf- A single foliage growth on a plant, or a single piece of paper

Leaves- The plural of leaf, or to depart

Leafs- A verb meaning to rapidly turn pages while skimming for content.

When to Use Leafs

You will use the word leafs on one occasion.

As a verb, you can say that someone is leafing through a magazine, while as a noun, a single piece of paper is a leaf. Leafs is the present tense term for searching through a book or other collections of paper.

When to Use Leaves

There are two different ways to use the word leaves.

The first way is as a verb for departing or going away from. ‘She leaves the room’.

The second way to use leaves is as the plural form of the green protuberances on most plants, a leaf. ‘In the fall, you make rake a pile of leaves‘.

Examples of Leafs in a Sentence

Sometimes it can be helpful to read a word in the context of a sentence, especially an unfamiliar word.

Here are a few examples of the word leafs in a sentence:

The patient picks up and leafs through the magazine while waiting on the doctor.

She leafs through the stack of papers, looking for the right application.

Mary leafs through the book to find the example she had in mind.

Examples of Leaves in a Sentence

Leaves is a much more commonly used word than leafs, but just to differentiate, here are a few sentences that feature the word leaves:

He leaves the house unattended.

She leaves the red car behind.

Jon raked the leaves for Ms. Adams.

The leaves are falling from the trees.

How to Remember the Difference between Leafs and Leaves

Remembering the difference between leafs and leaves is made easier by the fact that leafs only has one definition.

Anytime you read about someone turning pages, you will use the word leafs.

Any other time you will use leaves. So the best way to remember the difference between the two, is memorizing the single circumstance leafs will be used in!

Test Yourself on Leafs vs Leaves With These Sentences

Andy has lost his page in his book, so to find it, he _____ through the book looking for a familiar phrase.

When her little brother shook the tree, all the _____ fell on her.

Tony’s favorite fall activity was to jump in a huge pile of _____ that his father ______ behind for him.

Since she had an older copy of the textbook, she _____ through the book before every class to find the right page.

Источник

English spelling can seem completely arbitrary. There are many rules for English spelling that you might know. “I” before “E” except after “C” and “U” always comes after “Q”, among others. However, there are usually exceptions to these rules. English has a long history. Throughout that history, like every other language, English has undergone changes. Sounds shift, words are borrowed, and new words are invented. All of these changes have a story behind them.

The correct plural for leaf is leaves. The word “leaf” has been in the English language since its beginning. Native English words still retain sound changes from the language’s earlier periods.

How Does the Plural for Words Ending in F Work?

In modern English, there are no longer any explicit rules for forming the plural for words ending in the letter “F”. You will now find words that end in F with regular plurals (chief and chiefs) and some that change the final consonant from F to a V (wife and wives). Below, you’ll find a table listing the three classes of word transformations for words ending in F. Those that always change, sometimes change, and never change.

Class 1: Always Change	Class 2: Sometimes Change	Class 3: Never Change
loaf (loaves)	dwarf (dwarves or dwarfs)	chief (chiefs)
thief (thieves)	half (halves or halfs)	safe (safes)
knife (knives)	handkerchief (handkerchieves or handkerchiefs)	cliff (cliffs)
wife (wives)	hoof (hooves or hoofs)	belief (beliefs)
life (lives)	roof (rooves or roofs)	proof (proofs)
leaf (leaves)	scarf (scarves or scarfs)
wolf (wolves)
self (selves)
calf (calves)

The Story of Class 1 Words

The most interesting fact about Class 1 words is that they are all native English words (this means that these words were all in English since English split from its ancestor language).

The English language has over 1000 years of history. There were four major periods of English (the following dates are approximate):

Old English (~600AD – ~1000AD)
Middle English (~1100AD – ~1400AD)
Early-Modern English (~1500AD – ~1725AD)
Late-Modern English (~1825 – present)

During each of these periods, the English language underwent drastic changes. If you could hear an English speaker from 1000 years ago, you wouldn’t be able to understand what they were saying! Check out my article “How much of the English Language is English?” to learn more about the fascinating history of English throughout the ages!

The period of English that concerns our present question is Old English. The Old English period is the closest to when English first split away from its Germanic ancestor language. This means that, at the time, English of this period was much closer to German than it appears to be now. If you look at any Old English text, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was actually German instead!

In order to understand why the plural of leaf is leaves instead of leafs, we need to talk a bit about Old English sound rules.

Old English Sound Rules

Unlike in Modern English, there were rules in Old English for how a word is pronounced based on the other sounds that appear in the word (linguists call this ‘phonotactics’). For example, the sounds /f/, /θ/, and /s/ at the end of Old English words changed if they appeared between two voiced sounds. (A voiced sound is a sound which vibrates in your throat when you pronounce it. Sounds like the /f/ in finger are voiceless because your voice box does not vibrate while saying it, whereas a sound like the /v/ vegetable is considered voiced because your voice box vibrates while saying it.)

Let’s take a look at an Old English example of this phenomenon.

Singular	Plural
þēof	þēofas

The word above is the Old English word for “thief”. (If you’re curious about that letter at the beginning [þ], I’ve written a whole article about this cool little letter we’ve lost in modern English. You can check it out here!) While the word looks similar based on its spelling, we now know that, due to Old English sound rules, the pronunciation of this word would be different between the singular and plural.

This means that the final F in þēof would be pronounced the same as the /f/ sound in finger when it is singular. However, when the word is formed as the plural, the final F is pronounced like the /v/ sound in vegetable. This is because the two sounds right before and after the F (/o/ and /æ/) are both vowel sounds (which are always voiced).

During this period of English, there was no letter for the /v/ sound. /f/ and /v/ were both represented by the letter “F” and were considered the same sound. As English continued to grow and change, /f/ and /v/ were split into two different sounds represented by the letters “F” and “V” respectively.

Although we don’t have this sound rule in modern English, the legacy of this rule has been passed down to us through Old English. Words that have been in the English language for over a thousand years carry the mark of this historical rule. The word “leaf” is one of these words.

Exceptions

Of course, as with almost everything, there are exceptions. When you are talking about the leaves of a plant, the plural of leaf is always leaves. However, this isn’t always the case when it comes to stylistic concerns or verbs.

The Verb “to leaf”

One of the exceptions to this rule stems from a completely different word. When you are talking about the foliage on trees and other plants, the plural of these will always be “leaves”.

The third person form of the verb “to leaf” is “leafs”. This verb means “to flip through the pages of a book”.

I leafed through the book to find some information.
He leafs through magazines while waiting at the doctor’s office.

Another meaning of this verb is “to put out leaves” or “to divide a vegetable into separate leaves”. In this usage, the third person singular form of the verb is also “leafs”.

Our tree leafs in spring.
She leafs the lettuce by hand for the salad.

Proper Nouns

As you probably already know, proper nouns in English can ignore almost any spelling or pronunciation convention based on the desires of the person creating the name. English allows a lot of creativity when it comes to word creation and people sure do make use of it!

For our present question, an example of an exception to the “leaf/leaves” rule exists in the name for the Canadian hockey team the “Toronto Maple Leafs”

However, the reason for this exception isn’t merely stylistic concern. In English, all proper nouns take the regular plural ending even if the original noun has an irregular ending! Let’s explore this more.

Originally, the name for the hockey team comes from a maple leaf shaped badge worn by Canadian soldiers during World War I. The original owner of the team, Conn Smythe, had served in the war and based on his experiences chose to name his hockey team after these badges.

More than one Maple Leaf badge is referred to as maple leafs. This follows through into the name for the hockey team too. Multiple Maple Leaf players are Maple Leafs.

You can see this exception in the plural for the Beartooth Mountains in Yellowstone National Park. If you were to tell your friend you were going to go hiking next week, you would say you were going to the Beartooths not the Bearteeth.

This is also seen in the usage of family names. If someone had the last name “Goldman”, you would refer to their family as the “Goldmans”, not the “Goldmen”.

Slang

Another, relatively humourous, exception comes to us from slang. On the internet, leaf is used as a slang term to refer to a Canadian person.

You sometimes see this being used in forums and on social media where people from different countries are interacting with each other.

Of course, the plural of leaf when used in this context is leafs.

Why do leafs always say “eh” when they’re talking?

Conclusion

Hopefully this cleared up any confusion you had surrounding the plural form of leaf.

Whenever you’re talking about the foliage on a plant, the plural will always be leaves. However, there are some exceptions to this as we have seen. When the word is being used as part of a proper noun, or in a slang context. Then this grammatical rule can be broken.

Remember these simple situations and you’ll never confuse the plural for leaf again!

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