What’s the plural of “roof”?
- The plural of roof is roofs.
Many houses in the neighborhood have steep roofs.
We need to get estimates to repair the roofs of both garages.
The fierce wind damaged several rooves on Main Street.
The inspector checked all the rooves for leaks.
Some use rooves, which is nonstandard and uncommon. Certain dictionaries do not recognize “rooves” as a word, such as Merriam-Webster’s.
Despite other nouns ending in –f switching to –ves as a plural, (e.g., hoof, leaf, calf), roof, and other words ending in -f or -ff simply add -s to denote a plural.
| singular | plural |
|---|---|
| roof | roofs |
| cliff | cliffs |
| proof | proofs |
| chief | chiefs |
| belief | beliefs |
What’s the origin of the word “roof”?
Roof (n.) etymologically is tied to the Germanic languages, almost exclusively, “No apparent connections outside Germanic. “English alone has retained the word in a general sense, for which the other languages use forms corresponding to OE. þæc thatch” [OED].” (etymonline.com: roof). Likewise, it’s similar sounding counterpart words have Germanic roots.
The plural of “roof” is “roofs,” visualize houses with multiple “roofs” on top.
What’s a roof?
A roof is defined as the “outer upper covering of a house or other building.” Or, according to Wikipedia, a roof is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temperature, and wind.
Examples of “roof” used in context
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Other | All I need is a roof over my head and a decent meal.
This cake is so dry that it sticks to the roof of your mouth (= upper surface of the mouth). Put the luggage on the roof of the car. |
Examples of “roofs” used in context:
|
1. He could see the clear starry sky between the dark roofs of two penthouses. |
|
2. The houses are built of clay with (generally) flat roofs impervious to fire. |
|
3. Moonlight spilled over triangular roofs into grassy front yards. |
Worksheet
According to the blog post, what is the standard plural form of “roof”?
The blog post describes the plural form “rooves” as:
Unlike words like “leaf” which become “leaves” in the plural, “roof” and many other words ending in -f or -ff typically form their plural by:
Which plural usage is considered standard in the examples provided in the blog post?
According to the blog post, which dictionary is mentioned as not recognizing “rooves” as a word?
Many houses in the neighborhood have steep .
We need to get estimates to repair the of both garages.
The blog post states that using “” as the plural of “roof” is nonstandard and uncommon.
The plural of “roof” is formed by adding ““.
Moonlight spilled over triangular into grassy front yards.
FAQs
What’s the plural of “roof”?
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Is “rooves” the correct plural?
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Why isn’t “rooves” standard?
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How do other -f words pluralize?
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Can you show ‘roofs’ in a sentence?
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Yash, D. "What’s the Plural of Roof? Roofs or Rooves?." Grammarflex, Jul 15, 2025, https://www.grammarflex.com/whats-the-plural-of-roof/.
Sources
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Origin of roof.
