Phenomenon and Phenomena
Posted by H. Carla Greene on Saturday, January 22, 2011
Today's word of the day is actually two forms of the same word. Often, they are used interchangeably because people don't know the difference or how to actually use them.
Today we clear that up.
PHENOMENON as a noun, is a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen. It may be something in the physical world we live in or it may be a matter of perception within the mind. This form of the word is singular. One example of usage would be "The origin of the earth is a unique phenomenon." Or, as in the case of perception, another example would be "We experienced the phenomenon of hearing a voice in the haunted house, but we did not successfully record it on tape."
PHENOMENA as a noun, is the plural form of Phenomenon, being more than one phenomenon. These two words don't use the same rules of showing singularity and plurality as most other words used in English speaking cultures because they are not of English origin. They are Greek. An example of usage of the plural form would be "The several phenomena have yet to be explained."
Cultures often borrow words from other languages when an appropriate word does not exist in their own language and an appropriate words does exist in another language. Sometimes a culture will borrow words from another language because an appropriate word does not exist, but the word they borrow from the other language also does not exactly fit the intended meaning. The word gets used anyway. This is why sometimes when speaking another language, you must make sure to use the meanings of the words as that culture uses them. This was just a side note. While the words phenomenon and phenomena are Greek and we borrowed them for our usage, I am not aware of whether or not we changed the meanings for our purpose.
Today we clear that up.
PHENOMENON as a noun, is a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen. It may be something in the physical world we live in or it may be a matter of perception within the mind. This form of the word is singular. One example of usage would be "The origin of the earth is a unique phenomenon." Or, as in the case of perception, another example would be "We experienced the phenomenon of hearing a voice in the haunted house, but we did not successfully record it on tape."
PHENOMENA as a noun, is the plural form of Phenomenon, being more than one phenomenon. These two words don't use the same rules of showing singularity and plurality as most other words used in English speaking cultures because they are not of English origin. They are Greek. An example of usage of the plural form would be "The several phenomena have yet to be explained."
Cultures often borrow words from other languages when an appropriate word does not exist in their own language and an appropriate words does exist in another language. Sometimes a culture will borrow words from another language because an appropriate word does not exist, but the word they borrow from the other language also does not exactly fit the intended meaning. The word gets used anyway. This is why sometimes when speaking another language, you must make sure to use the meanings of the words as that culture uses them. This was just a side note. While the words phenomenon and phenomena are Greek and we borrowed them for our usage, I am not aware of whether or not we changed the meanings for our purpose.
