What’s the plural of “roof”?
- The plural of roof is roofs.
All the roofs in the neighborhood were covered in snow.
The strong winds damaged several rooves on our street.
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.
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.
Roof/roofs, used in sentences
| Noun: roof | Example sentences |
|---|---|
| roof (singular) |
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. Put the luggage on the roof of the car. |
| roofs (plural) |
He could see the clear starry sky between the dark roofs of two penthouses. Moonlight spilled over triangular roofs into grassy front yards. The houses are built of clay with (generally) flat roofs impervious to fire. |
Practice: Roofs or roof?
The storm damaged the ______ of several houses in the neighborhood.
There is a satellite dish on the ______ of that building.
The contractor is scheduled to repair all the leaky ______ next week.
The cat loves to nap on the warm ______ of the shed.
From the airplane, we could see the red ______ of the houses below.
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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Sources
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Origin of roof.
Yash, D. "How to Use Roof Plural (Explained, With Examples)." Grammarflex, Aug 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/roof-plural/.
