rec.puzzles Archive

What are the word records for drop s to make a plural?

language/english/meaning/nouns/unusual.plurals/drop.s.to.make.a.plural New

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Problem

What are the word records for drop s to make a plural?
(Meaning / Nouns / Unusual plurals)

  a.  shortest
  b.  longest
  c.  makes its own plural

[ Editor: question framed by the editor from the headings of the Taxonomy of Wordplay. ]
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[ Editor: from the Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com, retrieved 28 Oct 2026. Classes (common, uncommon, hyphenated words, phrases), scores, ties (-t) and the source codes in brackets are explained in language/english/word.records.introduction. ]

Sources: [B63,3-195,4-8,4-80,14-145,218]

a.  shortest
        common words: assess = asses (6-t)
        common words: caress = cares (6-t)
        uncommon words: less = les (4-t)
        uncommon words: cess = ces (4-t)
        uncommon words: dess = des (4-t)
        uncommon words: jess = jes (4-t)
        uncommon words: hess = hes (4-t)
        uncommon words: fess = fes (4-t)
        ... and 3 others
b.  longest
        common words: adventuress = adventures (11)
        uncommon words: multimillionairess = multimillionaires (18)
c.  makes its own plural
        uncommon word: necropolis = necropoli

-- Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com