Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <nouns><grammatical-number><latin><irregular>
Title: What is the plural form of "status"?
Question: What is the plural form of "status"?

Answers:
sents: text: There are some situations where status may be considered countable.
text: In those cases, the plural form can be used as statuses .
text: MacMillan dictionary gives 4 definitions for status , and 3 of them are referred to as countable.
text: Personally, I would use status as the plural form instead of statuses .
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/127/Mehper C. Palavuzlar
score: 128
sents: text: In Latin, the nominative plural of status as a 4th declension noun is statūs .
text: This would be uncomfortable in English, and so the English plural is statuses .
text: The Latin adjective has a different masculine nominative plural of statī , but then means something more like the English static .
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/4333/Henry
score: 80
sents: text: I see that I've very late to answer.
text: I usually try to avoid the use of "status" as a plural, instead option to use the near-synonym " state ".
text: Take for example these three attempts at pluralizing "status", all of which I've seen coworkers using: The product should support the following statuses: Red Green Blue The product should support the following status: Red Green Blue The product should support the following statii: Red Green Blue None of those sound natural, and one is objectively wrong .
text: The issue is sidestepped by substituting "states": The product should support the following states: Red Green Blue
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/11856/dotancohen
score: 25
sents: text: Many moons ago, our own tchrist wrote * …
text: If for some bizarre reason you simply cannot bring yourself to use the normal English plural form “statuses”, then you must learn that the true plural of status is statUs, with a macro[n] over the u [ i.e. , statūs] and pronounced “statoose”.
text: That’s because status comes from the Latin declension that forms plurals according to that particular rule, which incidentally is just like the plurals of apparatus and prospectus, but unlike the plural of words like radius, which becomes radii because it’s from a different declension, and also unlike genus and corpus, which go to genera and corpora respectively because they are from still another declension.
text: And please don’t ask me about octopus, since it’s Greek not Latin, and we do not care to offend any sensitive octopedal feelings. :-)
text: Wouldn’t it be much easier to simply s/$/es/ ?
text: A word to the wise: don’t use fancy forms out of yesteryear unless you really REALLY do know how they work(ed).
text: It just sounds silly.
text: * Message-ID: <5g2fu0$jve$1@csnews.cs.colorado.edu> in comp.lang.perl.misc, March 11, 1997.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/9604/Greg Bacon
score: 11
sents: text: I always though that status should not be used as plural, but I notice that statuses is reported from the CoCA in sentences like: Young people across a wide range of socio-economic statuses increasingly value choosing their own spouses, and individual choice [...].
text: [...], but those with higher threat statuses need even more conservation.
text: Certain references were also made about specific types of sexual activity including individuals' virginity statuses.
text: Statuses is used in academic context, with a frequency of 192 (compared with a frequency of 3 and 4 in magazines and newspapers).
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/252/kiamlaluno
score: 9
sents: text: Usually "statuses", but some people use "status" As others have mentioned, there are several possible plural forms of status .
text: statuses, regularly formed using the English plural suffix
text: -(e)s.
text: This is listed in various dictionaries e.g. Collins English Dictionary , Merriam Webster .
text: status, taken from Latin.
text: This is listed in a few dictionaries e.g. the Oxford English Dictionary (which actually gives three forms): Pl.
text: ( rare ) status
text: /ˈsteɪtjuːs/, (now usu.) statuses /ˈsteɪtəsɪz/, ( rare ) statusses /ˈsteɪtəsɪz/.
text: It’s not objectively better to use the Latinate plural form, or to try to pronounce it similarly to the way the Romans did.
text: Status has been an English word, not just a Latin word, for a long time now.
text: Latinate plurals ending in -us are rarely used in English, and in fact, several usage guides say the English form -uses is generally preferable.
text: The original Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler, 1926 (as reproduced in the new 2009 edition) says in the entry for "-us": Many [words ending in "-us"] are from Latin fourth-declension words, whose Latin plural is -us
text: (pronounced ūs); but the English plural -uses is almost always preferred, as in prospectuses.
text: The contemporary usage guide writer Bryan Garner wrote the following passage: nexus.
text: The acceptable plural forms are nexuses (English) and nexus
text: (Latin).
text: Naturally, the English form is preferable—e.g.:
text: "The nexuses of activity for both rooms are the counters where the marijuana is dispensed."
text: Glenn Martin, "
text: The Tokin' Joint," S.F. Chron., 24 Aug. 1997, at Z1.
text: Some writers have betrayed their ignorance of Latin by writing * nexi, as if it were a second-declension noun.
text: To me, it seems simpler to just go with the regular English plural statuses,
text: but if you prefer to use the Latinate plural status for whatever reason, you’ll have to make some additional choices about pronunciation (it doesn't seem obvious to me how to pronounce it ).
text: Words that inflect similarly Some other English words that inflected in the same way as status in Latin are apparatus, coitus, fetus, flatus, hiatus, impetus, meatus, nexus.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/77227/herisson
score: 8
sents: text: I see some references to status as uncountable as well, but that doesn't make much sense to me.
text: I've always used statii, apparently incorrectly:
text: Merriam-Webster, at least, calls for "statuses"
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/143/cori
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
There does not appear to be much agreement as to the accept plural form of "status", and indeed, if may actually be "status". However, many people also use "statuses".
There is no definite rule but the most common plural form by far is "statuses".
There does not appear to be much agreement as to the accept plural form of "status", and indeed, if may actually be "status". However, many people also use "statuses".
Merriam-Webster suggests  "statuses" and statuses  is used in academic context, with a frequency of 192 (compared with a frequency of 3 and 4 in magazines and newspapers). The plural is usually "statuses", but some people use "status".
Usually "statuses", but some people use "status".  There are several possible plural forms of  status .  In Latin, the nominative plural of  status  as a 4th declension noun is  statūs .
There is disagreement about whether the plural form of 'status' is 'status or 'statuses'. However, in Latin, the plural form is 'status'.