Roof Has Two Accepted Plurals
A roof is the covering of a building. Both roofs and rooves have been used.
A roof is the structure covering the top of a building. Its plural is a live curiosity: *roofs* is now standard, but *rooves* follows the same old pattern as *hoof/hooves* and *leaf/leaves*, where a final f becomes v before the plural ending. English applies that rule inconsistently — we say *wolves* but *roofs*, *thieves* but *chiefs* — because the change happened before some words entered the language and after others. *Roof* is Old English *hrof*, which also meant the sky.
- A building's covering. *A tiled roof.*
- The top of the mouth. *The roof of the mouth.*
- To cover. *Roofing a shed.*
- Roofs — the standard plural. *Roofs.*
- Old English — *hrof*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | roof | A roof. |
| Plural | roofs | Roofs. |
| Variant | rooves | Rooves. |
| Verb | roof | Roofing. |
| Old English | hrof | A roof. |
- The roof leaked.Building.
- Roofs is now standard.Grammar.
- The roof of the mouth.Anatomy.
The f to v plural rule
- Changes: leaf/leaves, wolf/wolves, thief/thieves, knife/knives
- Does not change: roof/roofs, chief/chiefs, belief/beliefs
- Either: hoof, dwarf, scarf, wharf
- Words borrowed later kept the plain s plural
- Dwarfs and dwarves both occur, Tolkien preferring the latter
Old English *hrof*, a roof or ceiling, also the sky, of Germanic origin.
Is rooves a real word?
It is an accepted variant, but roofs is now the standard plural in both British and American English.
Why do some f words change to v in the plural?
An old sound change affected words already in English; later borrowings simply took the plain s plural.