If you type these exact words into Google you get over 780 000 hits! Everything from formal online dictionary answers to entire websites dedicated to the subject. As a ranger this is one of the most commonly asked questions that we get, and I decided to tackle the subject once and for all!
Plurals are strange things:
The plural of foot is feet.
The plural of goosefoot is goosefoots.
The plural of moose is moose.
The plural of goose is geese.
The plural of mouse, the rodent, is mice.
The plural of mouse, the computer hardware device, is mouses.
After much searching on the internet it became very obvious to me that there are many mixed opinions on the subject. Is it mongooses or mongeese? I decicded to pose the question to the internet community as a whole. Mainly, I thought it wise to use the technology available to me, but also I had never done anything like this and it seemed quite fun…
I selected 5 of the larger search engines and typed in my two alternatives: ‘mongooses’ or ‘mongeese’. I then jotted down the number of hits for each.
When I asked Google:
Mongooses = 804 000 hits
Mongeese = 103 000 hits
When I asked Yahoo:
Mongooses = 631 000 hits
Mongeese = 55 800 hits
When I asked Bing:
Mongooses = 543 000 hits
Mongeese = 47 900 hits
When I asked Lycos:
Mongooses = 626 000 hits
Mongeese = 58 800
When I asked Ixquick:
Mongooses = 7082 hits
Mongeese = 3380 hits
The results seem to speak for themselves. 100 % of the time mongooses wins! Even as I type this post the computer screams at me, highlighting every time I write ‘Moongeese’, saying that I need to check my spellcheck! I guess that I will use that as a sign. I mean Steve Jobs was a genius wasn’t he?
White tailed Mongooses come out at night
What do you think the plural of mongoose is and do you have any other plurals that just don’t seem to fit? Let me know in the comment section below…
mongoose remain mangoose in plural
Good ‘ol Webster’s dictionary says the plural is mongooses. 🙂
Is there a collective? As in ‘a crash of rhino’ or ‘a dazzle of zebra’???
I call them adorable.
OK here’s one for the Brits! The Oxford Dictionary, which is a law unto itself!!! – states that the plural
is mongooses – no argument there !!!
Thank you for doing the online research and coming up with the answer.
Your research seems pretty similar to mine. But just out of curiosity, have you ever come across “mungoose”? If so is it singular or plural? The only time I’ve seen it was on wikipedia & they said it was less common, but it seemed unclear to me if they meant it was a plural.
If plural of goose is geese then surely plural of mongoose would be mongeese?
The great ‘mongooses / mongeese’ debate! Thank you for this little bit of clarity!! Our family were having this debate this morning when we found this! 🙂 haha
Great pleasure 🙂
Someone in the Caribbean (St. John, USVI) once said that the plural was “mongoosdem”. We thought he was crazy so naturally we set out to find literature asap and, sure enough, a couple informative books confirmed that that was the correct way to pluralize “mongoose” on that island…..
When we got back to the mainland, however, we never heard anything of it again. Now, in Hawai’i, I’m hesitant to ever pluralize the word as I don’t want to confuse or offend anyone lol. It seems in the Caribbean they have their own version and I think I’ll just leave that pluralization there with them.
Thanks for the information Jason, fascinating stuff!
Just as a little tidbit: I’m from London and there’s a lot of Caribbean slang, particularly Jamaican. When you add “dem” to a word it becomes pluralised. So “mandem” (which is a very common word down these parts” means many people.
I never realise you could stick it on anything though, like mongoosedem, so that was pretty interesting!
womandem
Thank you I always thought the plural for mongoose was mongii.
Why not just mongoose. Think about the word “sheep”. Do we say one sheep but two sheeps? I don’t think so! We may surely say “a family of mongoose”
Perhaps the plural of “mongoose” should be “polygoose”
I quite like just mongoose for the plural. They aren’t geese after all, are they? 🙂
I have no idea, I am currently watching a docu and it referred to them as mongooses, which sounds unnatural, as being Canadian..I know geese very well! haha! I would have though Mongeese, or simply just Mongoose. The plural or moose or deer, unless speaking of different species at the same time, is moose, or deer. If the plural of mouse is mice, shouldn’t the plural of house be hice? Back on track though, I must say polygoose is pretty good though too! haha 🙂
What about the Oxford English Dictionary.
Plurals are strange things:
The plural of foot is feet.
The plural of goosefoot is goosefoots.
The plural of moose is moose.
The plural of goose is geese.
The plural of mouse, the rodent, is mice.
The plural of mouse, the computer hardware device, is mouses.
therefore the plural is Mongeese
every mongoose has its day
Wow! Say Cheese!
I like Mongoosai!
Maybe it should be “Mongeesedemai!!!”
Your research shows intellectual demographics. The plural of mongoose should be an irregular plural and therefor be either mongoose or mongeese. Mongooses has too many syllables which makes it difficult to say. Words should flow off the tongue and not be awkward to pronounce.
The form of the English name (since 1698) was altered to its “-goose” ending by folk-etymology. It has no etymological connection with the word goose. The plural is mongooses. If the mongoose was in the goose family then the obvious plural would mongeese – but it’s not.
Com’on people.
I would call a plurality of mongoose(s) “Cheeky little devils!”
It all depends on your region, background, style of pronunciation, etc. Not all have tongues where ‘mongoosedem’, ‘mongooses’ or ‘mongeese’ come off the tongue easily, however there is currently no official and proper pluralization of ‘mongoose’.
Hello peeps I would prefer mongeese.
Can’t believe this didn’t garner any responses. I’m keeping this one.
Also HELLO FROM THE FUTURE obscure comment thread!
The plural of Ox is Oxen, so why isn’t the plural of Box, “Boxen”?