pluralとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“複数形”), borrowed from Latin pluralis (“of または belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plus, pluris (“more”) + -alis.

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈplʊə.ɹəl/, /ˈplɔː.ɹəl/
  • (廃れた用法) IPA^(key): /ˈpljʊə.ɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈplʊɹəl/, /ˈpləɹəl/

形容詞

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

1. Consisting of or containing more than one of something. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona:

     Than plural faith which is too much by one: Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

2. (comparable) Pluralistic.
   • 1987, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, editor, The Encyclopedia of religion, volume 3:

     Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups

   • 2006, Suisheng Zhao, Debating political reform in China: rule of law vs. democratization, page 29:

     The Hong Kong and Singapore markets are way more "plural" than most Western economies, but they have not led to pluralistic politics.

   • 2007, Lachelle Renee Hannickel, From cultural transgressions to literary transformations: ..., page 195:

     History is perhaps more plural than traditionally imagined, leaving room for more groups to express their story.

   • 2009, Pille Valk, Teenagers' perspectives on the role of religion in their lives, ..., page 281:

     Generally the girls tend to perceive their social world as somewhat more plural than boys do. Several of these questions reveal that there are more boys (61%) than girls (39%) who 'do not know' about the religion of others

   • 2011, Harald E. Braun; Edward Vallance, The Renaissance Conscience, page 50:

     Yet More's conscience was responding to a world just a little more plural than the world he was born in

同意語

• manifold
• multiple
• morefold
• several

反意語

• singular

名詞

plural (複数形 plurals)

1. (grammar, uncountable) The plural number.
   • 1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:

     "There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."

2. (grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.

使用する際の注意点

• Many languages have singular for one item and plural for more than one item. Some languages also have a dual form for two, a trial form for three, or a paucal form for several (e.g. Fijian). Other languages do not distinguish any of these categories.
• While the plural form generally refers to two or more persons or things, that is not always the case. The plural form is often used for zero persons or things, for fractional things in a quantity greater than one, and for people or things when the quantity is unknown.
• In English, the plural is most often formed simply by adding the letter "s" to the end of a noun, e.g. apple/apples. There are many exceptions, however, such as echo/echoes, mouse/mice, child/children, deer/deer (same word), etc.

反意語

• singular

参考

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}