In short, stick with "octopuses" unless you really prefer the sound of "octopi. Grammarians who don't like "octopi" sometimes suggest that the correct plural is "octopodes" or "octopods." The "pous" in octopus is a relative of "pod," a Greek word for "foot." The correct Greek plural for "pous" is "podes." But, nobody everuses "octopodes" outside of arguments about the plural of "octopus." Nor should you. While the plural is irregular, it's hardly out of bounds. This is because the word octopus is Greek in origin, not Latin, and the Greek word for the word pos (foot) is podes. The word was latinized as "Octopus" then eventually became an English word. It is a popular and well-known fact that the correct plural for octopus is not octopi, but octopuses or octopodes. It comes from the Greek "oktopous," meaning eight feet. Well-meaning people may tell you that -i is a Latin plural, but the word octopusisn't a Latin word. (Latin nouns fall into categories called declensions, and this determines how they’re pluralized, made possessive, and so forth. As the OED says, the plural form octopi arises from apprehension of the final -us of the word as the grammatical ending of Latin second declension nouns. "Octopi" is also an acceptable plural, and one in wide use, but you run the risk of being informed that it's incorrect. The us ending of octopus is merely part of the Greek element pous (from pod, for foot). However, loan words in English almost always receive the regular plural ending. The forms octopi and octopodes have been reanalyzed forms created by others due to the word’s history as a Greek (and Latin) loan word. We would go with "octopuses," a perfectly legitimate English pluralform, and the oldest attested to. The correct plural of octopus is octopuses. What is the plural of octopus? Is it octopi or octopusses? The Answer:
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