broken plural

English

Etymology

Calque of Arabic جَمْع مُكَسَّر (jamʕ mukassar).

Noun

broken plural (plural broken plurals)

  1. An irregular plural formed by changing the pattern of consonants and vowels inside the singular form, found in the Semitic languages and other Afroasiatic languages such as Berber. An example in Arabic is مَكَاتِب (makātib, “desks”), the plural form of مَكْتَب (maktab, “desk”).
    Antonym: sound plural

Translations

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