Category:English invariant nouns

This category should be empty. The contents of this category should now be found at English indeclinable nouns. If any pages link here, please update the link, as this page may be deleted. A few English nouns do not change when inflected into the plural. These are known as "invariant nouns" (or "invariable nouns").

Note: These are not to be confused with pluralia tantum (such as bagpipes) or with uncountable nouns (also known as mass nouns and non-count nouns; invariant nouns can still be counted as in "one sheep, two sheep").

A related class are certain possessives that are (headless) elliptical noun phrases. (The chemist's is closed on Sundays. The chemist's were closed on Sundays.) See Appendix:Special uses of possessives in English.

Invariant use of non-invariant nouns edit

Sometimes in English, the singular form of a non-invariant noun may be used to denote a plural. This should be carefully distinguished from true invariants, where there is no plural form, as in the case of 'sheep'.

Generally, this happens with only a very few kinds of nouns:

• game animals commonly found in herds or flocks
  • elephant, buffalo, antelope, duck

• munitions or armaments
  • cannon, rifle

• measurements
  • inch, millimetre, foot, year, pound