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leafs or leaves

English translation: Not so simple as it looks!

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:leafs or leaves
Selected answer:Not so simple as it looks!
Entered by: Annette van der Lei (X)

18:59 Dec 8, 2004
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: leafs or leaves
what is the correct spelling??

-humus: organic matter made of leaves (?), straw and decomposed manure.
Annette van der Lei (X)
Spain
Local time: 13:13
Not so simple as it looks!
Explanation:
As others have observed, the plural is "leaves", and that reflects the pronunciation. However the plural of "hoof" is usually "hoofs" and of "roof" is always "roofs". I certainly say "hooves" and my pronunciation of the other word hovers between "roofs" and "rooves".
Selected response from:

David Knowles
Local time: 12:13
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +19leaves
Krisztina Lelik
5 +3leaves is more common, leafs is also correct
NGK
5 +1foliage
Marijke Singer
4Not so simple as it looks!
David Knowles


  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +19
leaves


Explanation:
in plural this is the correct spelling

Krisztina Lelik
Greece
Local time: 14:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Annika Neudecker
0 min
  -> thanks!
agree  David Russi: Absolutely!
0 min
  -> thanks!
agree  Edith Kelly
1 min
  -> thanks!
agree  Mario Marcolin: Singular -Vf => plural -Vves ( V= vowels, r, l)
6 mins
  -> thanks!
agree  NancyLynn
9 mins
agree  lafresita (X)
13 mins
agree  Leo3 (X)
14 mins
agree  Jirina Nevosadova
37 mins
agree  Neil Phillipson: "Five leaves left", "Eats, shoots and leaves" - leaves is the accepted plural, not taking into account exceptions
43 mins
agree  RHELLER: http://www.nc.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/crump.htm
47 mins
agree  Will Matter
50 mins
agree  Ian Burley (X)
1 hr
agree  Jeannie Graham
1 hr
agree  humbird: Pluralizing of nouns which end with letter "f" is to turn the "f" into "v", which is followed by "es" instead of just "s". This is standard rule.
1 hr
agree  mportal
3 hrs
agree  vixen: which is sth. Annette could easily have found out by looking in a dictionary.
14 hrs
agree  airmailrpl: -
15 hrs
agree  Özden Arıkan
1 day 16 hrs
agree  conejo
3 days 9 hrs
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2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
leaves is more common, leafs is also correct


Explanation:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=lea...

NGK
United States
Local time: 06:13
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  NancyLynn: I`ve only ever seen it in reference to the Toronto Maple Leafs ;-) // Perhaps he was a hockey fan! :-D
9 mins
  -> Well, I would have thought leafs was wrong, but who am I to contradict Mr. Webster?
agree  Ken Cox: 'Leafs' is properly limited to situations where the emphasis is individual leaves instead of leaves collectively, such as 'the leafs of a table' (there are arguments both ways on that), 'different types of leafs' , and of course, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
13 mins
agree  David Knowles: The Toronto Maple Leafs are a different kettle of fish! Steven Pinker's "Words and Rules" has a special section on them! (The meaning of vegetation has been lost, so the spelling is normal.)
24 mins
agree  trautlady: ich schliesse mich dieser Meinung an
1 hr
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Not so simple as it looks!


Explanation:
As others have observed, the plural is "leaves", and that reflects the pronunciation. However the plural of "hoof" is usually "hoofs" and of "roof" is always "roofs". I certainly say "hooves" and my pronunciation of the other word hovers between "roofs" and "rooves".

David Knowles
Local time: 12:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Neil Phillipson: roof & roofs - plural roofs /'rüfs, 'rufs also 'rüvz, 'ruvz/ hoof & hoofs/hooves - plural hooves /'hüvz, 'huvz/; also hoofs. Your suspiscions were confirmed, David, naturally one version is more common than another, hence the order in which they're here
17 mins
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
foliage


Explanation:
Just to add to the confusion.
Oxford dictionary:
foliage /"f@UlIIdZ/
· n. plant leaves, collectively.
– ORIGIN ME foilage: from OFr. feuillage, from feuille ‘leaf’, from L. folium.

Marijke Singer
Spain
Local time: 13:13
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  awilliams: !!
4 hrs
  -> Thank you, Awilliams!
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