• Piecemakers@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      "What is the singular form of dice?

      ‘Die’ is the singular form of ‘dice’. It comes from the French word des, a plural word for the same objects. In English, the most common way to make nouns plural is to add an ‘s’. If ‘die’ followed that rule precisely, its plural form would be ‘dies’, however, English is full of irregular plurals. Along with octopus, fish, goose, wolf, cactus, and appendix, “die” does not follow that rule implicitly. The plural form is ‘dice’. If you roll dice, you are rolling two or more game pieces. If you roll a die, you are only using one piece."

      It’s really as simple as: which sounds correct? “Rolling a die” or “rolling a dice”? 🤷🏼‍♂️ Anti-intellectualism is no one’s friend, friend.

        • MostlyHarmless
          32·
          1 year ago

          It’s dice and die. Both are correct depending on who you ask

          https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/dice

          In old-fashioned English, ‘dice’ was used only as a plural form, and the singular was die, but now ‘dice’ is used as both the singular and the plural form.

          https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/dice

          The singular usage is considered incorrect by many authorities. However, it should be noted that The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Judy Pearsall, Patrick Hanks (1998) states that “In modern standard English, the singular die (rather than dice) is uncommon. Dice is used for both the singular and the plural.”