Talk:zoa

This needs checking as while it purports itself to be the plural of zoon the alternative spelling entry zoön gives zoöns as a plural. 50 Xylophone Players talk 19:35, 9 June 2009 (UTC)


 * zoa: is fine (though zoons: may exist too; not sure). I suppose the plural of zoön: would be zoä:? Equinox ◑ 21:31, 9 June 2009 (UTC)


 * No, the plural of would be, too; in English,  usually denotes the vowel  ( or ; ), so the diæresis is needed to specify the pronunciation of two distinct vowels as  , whereas  usually (though not always; consider : ) denotes two distinct vowels (pronounced ; ; ; &c., depending upon vowel quantity), so in the latter case, the diæresis is unnecessary. †  ﴾(u):Raifʻhār (t):Doremítzwr﴿ 14:18, 10 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Ok, thanks at least now I can fix up the entries while we wait and see if zoons is also a valid plural of the English word. 50 Xylophone Players talk 15:14, 10 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, exists, so so, probably, does  (vide Google Book Search). †  ﴾(u):Raifʻhār (t):Doremítzwr﴿ 15:52, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

In re the prescription of plurals: So, of the seven authorities I could find that actually mentioned something about the plural form, all of them gave undefined:, but only one (the AHD) allowed undefined:. Shall we mark undefined: as ? †  ﴾(u):Raifʻhār (t):Doremítzwr﴿ 16:42, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (4th Ed.; © 2000, updated 2003) gives undefined: and undefined:
 * 2) Dictionary.com Unabridged (© 2009) gives only undefined:
 * 3) The Free Dictionary (regurgitating Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)) gives only undefined:
 * 4) MyWord.info seems only to allow undefined:
 * 5) The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.; 1989) gives only undefined:
 * 6) The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (© 1997) gives only undefined:
 * 7) Webster’s New World College Dictionary (© 2005) gives only undefined:


 * Chambers has both plurals. Equinox ◑ 18:43, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Striking, rfv resolved and passed. 50 Xylophone Players talk 11:47, 13 July 2009 (UTC)