Plural of “ellipsis”

The plural of ellipsis is ellipses.

Why

"Ellipsis" comes from Greek "elleipsis," meaning a falling short or omission, from "elleipein" (to leave out) — the same root that gives us "ellipse" in geometry, both words sharing the idea of something incomplete or missing a piece. As a Greek-derived -is noun, it follows the same pattern as "axis" and "oasis," replacing -is with -es for the plural: "ellipsis/ellipses."

This creates a genuine spelling collision worth knowing about: "ellipses" is also the plural of the unrelated word "ellipse" (the oval shape), even though the two words come from the same ultimate root and are pronounced identically in their plural forms — a rare case where two distinct singular nouns ("ellipsis" and "ellipse") converge on one identical plural spelling and pronunciation.

Usage note

Context is the only way readers distinguish the two meanings of "ellipses" in writing — an editor discussing a manuscript's ellipses almost certainly means the punctuation mark (the three dots, ...), while a geometry textbook's ellipses almost certainly means the oval shapes; the words rarely appear in contexts ambiguous enough to cause real confusion.

In editing and publishing specifically, "ellipses" (from "ellipsis") is used constantly to describe multiple instances of the three-dot mark indicating omitted text, making this one of the more practically useful irregular plurals for anyone working in writing or editing to know cold. Style guides differ on formatting details for ellipses — some require spaces between the three dots, others don't, and some treat a four-dot ellipsis as indicating an omission that spans a full sentence — but none of this technical variation affects the plural spelling itself, which stays "ellipses" regardless of formatting convention.

Common real mistakes

Some writers mistakenly pluralize "ellipsis" as "ellipsises," doubling the -is ending instead of replacing it — the correct plural drops the -is entirely and adds -es, exactly as with "axis" and "oasis."

The wider pattern

"Ellipsis" is a clear Greek member of the -is/-es family, alongside "axis" (Latin) and "oasis" and "synopsis" (also Greek) — all four nouns replace the singular -is ending with -es for the plural despite their different specific classical origins, since English absorbed the pattern as a single spelling convention rather than tracking each word's language of origin separately. Text messaging and online chat introduced a casual new use for the ellipsis mark, signaling a pause, hesitation, or unfinished thought in real-time conversation, and writing guides discussing this informal digital usage still refer to "ellipses" (plural) when describing the pattern across multiple messages or conversations.

Examples

• The editor flagged three unnecessary ellipses in the opening paragraph.
• Both ellipses in the quotation indicated omitted material, not hesitation.
• The style guide limits how many ellipses can appear on a single page.
• She used ellipses throughout the letter to suggest things left unsaid.
• The manuscript's ellipses were later restored to full sentences in the final draft.
• Multiple ellipses in the transcript marked where the recording had been trimmed.
• The professor asked students to explain the ellipses in the ancient text.
• Two ellipses appeared back to back, signaling a longer omitted passage.
• Copy editors are trained to check ellipses for consistent spacing.
• The poem's ellipses do more narrative work than its actual words.
• The interview transcript used ellipses to indicate long pauses.
• Several ellipses in the diary suggest pages were later removed.
• The professor's notes were full of ellipses standing in for whole arguments.
• Two consecutive ellipses signaled a particularly long silence in the dialogue.
• Her text messages were full of ellipses trailing off mid-thought.
• The screenplay's stage directions use ellipses to suggest awkward silences.
• Two ellipses in the email left the actual request unclear.
• The professor counted how many ellipses appeared in each student's essay.