phenomena
Pluralphenomenas, phenomenae
- 1Plural of phenomenon.
Several unexplained phenomena were reported during the storm.
The book explores optical phenomena such as mirages and halos.
Note
Greek plurals in -on become -a, and phenomena keeps that pattern, as criterion/criteria does. Because the ending is already plural, it takes a plural verb and plural determiners: these phenomena are, many phenomena, never a phenomena. William Babington Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) shows the natural agreement in "all these unexpected phenomena." The forms phenomenas and phenomenae stack a second plural ending on the first and belong with the nonstandard singular.
- 2An observable event or fact, especially one that is remarkable or whose cause is not fully understood.
The sudden glow over the harbor was a phenomena that puzzled local scientists for weeks.
Researchers treated the unusual migration pattern as a single phenomena worth careful study.
Similaroccurrence, event, happening, phenomenon
Note
Here the plural has been heard as a singular (a phenomena), and once it is singular it seems to need a plural of its own, phenomenas. The habit is old: Kenelme Digby writes "Phenomenas" in 1645, Samuel Butler's Hudibras has "Phænomena's" in 1663, and The New York Times of 1871 praises "infant phenomenas." It remains nonstandard. In careful writing, one is a phenomenon and several are phenomena.
phenomena is a form of phenomenon
phenomenon, noun: A fact, event, or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or nature is in question or that can be studied. Full entry
- Forms
- phenomenon also pluralphenomena plural
- Spelling
- phenomenon → phenomena: irregular plural (no -s)
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
"Phenomena" is the plural form of "phenomenon," formed according to the Ancient Greek pluralisation pattern in which the ending "-ον" (-on) becomes "-α" (-a).