Merriam-Webster Dictionary Clarifies For X-Men Fans How To Pluralize Cyclops

Have you ever found yourself writing a lengthy tribute to the X-Man known as Cyclops and ended up [...]

By Matthew Aguilar

Have you ever found yourself writing a lengthy tribute to the X-Man known as Cyclops and ended up having to talk about multiple versions of the same character? Of course you have, and when you got there you like many probably wondered how to actually refer to multiple versions of Cyclops at the same time. If you have found yourself in such a conundrum, you're in luck, because the Merriam-Webster Dictionary decided to take this issue on and clarify how to pluralize it, which is handy because it doesn't follow the same rules as other words.

Merriam-Webster shared this delightful message with followers on Twitter, writing "You might not think this is an urgent read, but what if you get stuck in the X-Men multiverse? You'll be glad you did."

I mean, they're right, so here's the actual rule direct from their official page.

"Unlike most rules of pluralization, the plural of Cyclops is Cyclopes. Instead of adding es to Cyclops, the plural is adapted from the Latin based singular Ciclope or Cyclope, and thus the plural became Cyclopes."

They go a bit more in-depth later in the post. "With that grammar laid out, the plural of Cyclops, which is a proper noun ending in -s that denotes a mythical giant creature, should be either Cyclopses or Cyclops—but usage evidence doesn't concur. The most common plural form of Cyclops (which is now frequently found in lowercase) is Cyclopes (pronounced \sye-KLOH-peez\)."

So, next time you have to talk about all the different versions of Cyclops across the many Marvel universes, you now just have to say Cyclopes and you're covered. It extends to Greek Mythology too of course, but you are at ComicBook, so odds are you're talking about optic blasts man and not the giant creature.

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