What should be the plural of the word kibbutz?
Possible duplicate:
Plurals of foreign words
a kibbutz is a collective/collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on farming. Since this type of settlement is unique to Israel, its name is in Hebrew and the languages don’t have a translation into other languages.
The plural of kibbutz is kibbutzim which is also the form of Wikipedia. When a non-Hebrew speaker reads kibbutzim they don’t necessarily understand that it’s the plural form of kibbutz.
What’s the proper plural form of kibbutz used in English as a child?
What are good reasons to read this article?
I consulted 5 or 6 dictionaries linked from One Look. B. The Cambridge 1 Publication system (for both x and y), and all listed kibbutzim as the only plural form, except kibbutzes as the second plural form on x. All listed kibbutzim as the only plural form, except that Cambridge 1 did not recognize kibbutzes as a second plural form on x.
Is it OK to be using kifbutzim? If you know a word well, you probably know the plural; anybody not knowing the word is likely to have to look it up anyway.
If this word becomes well known, it will follow the usual pattern: it will appear less and less often in italics (used to indicate a foreign word), and more and more often with the English plural form instead of the Hebrew.
