walrii

English

Etymology

In imitation of Latin nominative plural forms of nouns ending in ius. Compare fetii and penii.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: wôlʹrĭī, IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːlɹɪaɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

walrii

1. (nonstandard, proscribed, rare) Misconstructed plural form of walrus.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:walrii.

Usage notes

• The plural form walrii is doubly incorrect. Firstly, walrus derives from Danish, not Latin. Secondly, even if walrus were a second-declension Latin noun, the plural form would be walri; in the correct plurals radii and gladii, with which walrii is analogous, the first ‘i’s are part of the words’ stems (radi- and gladi-), and not their case endings — for walrii to be the plural, *walrius would need to be the singular.