Plural of “beau”
The plural of beau is beaus (some dictionaries also accept beaux).
Why
"Beau" comes from French "beau," meaning handsome or fine, and entered English in the 17th–18th centuries as a slightly old-fashioned term for a woman's boyfriend or suitor. Because the word has always carried a somewhat playful, romantic, or dated flavor in English rather than being tied to a formal or technical field, it never developed the same strong pull toward the Latin-style -ices patterns seen elsewhere, but it did initially carry the French -x plural common to -eau words.
"Beaus" is now generally considered the more common and more naturally English-feeling plural, while "beaux" survives mainly in deliberately old-fashioned, Southern American, or romantic-comedy-adjacent writing (the phrase "beaux and belles" being a well-known set expression from that register), giving the word's plural choice a distinctly stylistic rather than technical dimension compared to "bureaux" or "chateaux."
Usage note
Choose "beaux" if you want a deliberately antique, courtly, or Southern-belle flavor to the writing; choose "beaus" for a plainer, more contemporary tone. Neither is incorrect, but the choice communicates something about register that the other -eau words on this list do less strongly.
"Beau" is also used as part of compound expressions like "beau geste" (a fine gesture) and "beau monde" (fashionable society), none of which affect the plural rules for "beau" used alone as "boyfriend" or "suitor." The word's romantic-comedy and period-drama associations mean it rarely appears in serious or formal writing today at all, showing up mostly in playful, nostalgic, or deliberately old-fashioned prose — a sharp contrast to "bureau" or "plateau," both of which remain fully current in ordinary technical and institutional writing regardless of tone.
Common real mistakes
Because the word is short and the spelling unusual for English, writers sometimes misspell the plural as "beaues" or "beauxs" — the two accepted forms are simply "beaus" and "beaux," with no additional letters.
The wider pattern
"Beau" completes this French -eau family alongside "bureau," "chateau," "plateau," and "tableau," and its plural choice is unusual among them for being driven mainly by tone and register rather than by which professional field still uses the word most, since "beau" itself never became a technical term in any specific discipline. Southern American literature and film in particular have kept "beau" and its plural alive in popular culture far longer than in everyday British or general American speech, with the word functioning almost as a genre signal for stories set in a particular regional, often nostalgic, social world.
Examples
- She had two beaus competing for her attention that summer.
- The old letters mentioned several beaux who had once courted her.
- Her sister's beaus never seemed to last more than a few months.
- The novel follows a young woman juggling three persistent beaus.
- Grandmother loved recounting stories of her many beaux from the 1940s.
- Both beaus showed up to the dance uninvited.
- The film's heroine turns down several beaus before finding the right one.
- Family legend held that she'd had more beaus than anyone in town.
- Her diary listed each of her beaus by nickname only.
- The comedy hinges on mistaken identity between two rival beaus.
- The film's heroine finally chooses between her two long-suffering beaus.
- She joked that she'd collected more beaus than birthdays that year.
- Letters from the era reveal a string of forgotten beaus.
- Neither of her beaus knew about the other until the reunion.
- The novel's Southern belle juggles the attentions of several beaus.
- Family stories describe her grandmother's many beaus with obvious affection.
- Neither beau realized the other had proposed the same week.
- The film contrasts her sensible fiancé with her string of past beaus.
- Family photos show her surrounded by a rotating cast of beaus.
- The comedy's plot hinges on two rival beaus competing for attention.