What are singular and plural forms of " British" ?

Question

eg. American -----> Americans

Answer 1

brit

british

Answer 2

As Bella said, Briton & Britons are the words you use for the singular and plural of people from the British Isles. British isn't quite the same, although it's used for the same purpose often enough ...!

Briton / Britons = ONLY people from the British Isles.
British = any thing, or person, from the British Isles..!

Briton is a noun - and refers to a person, therefore it can be made into a plural by adding an s.
British is an adjective - and it just qualifies or describes a noun. "The British" is merely an abbreviated version of "The British people." As a stand alone sentence "The British" is totally illogical, but we ALL know that it's referring to the British people, so we don't take any notice - our brains fill in the 'blanks'!
; )

BTW, I don't think the word 'Briton' would cause confusion for people from Brittany - they describe themselves as 'Bretons' (that's the plural by the way,) and it's derived from the fact that Brittany used to BE part of Britain ... and I think the 'Bretons' have got the intelligence to understand the difference! (Although I'm not so sure about the Britons..!! Even though I AM one! Bretons will know all about the history of their own region. But Britons normally know very little about the history of Brittany!)

Answer 3

It took me some time to realize you are not crazy. Adjectives don't have a number like singular and plural. They don't inflect, in fact. Nevertheless, i have seen adjectives used as nouns: "How many greens do you have?" Well, this isn't working for me as now I realize that there is a green the color that would have to be a noun. So let us switch our sentence to passports in place of colors: "How many British?" well, it seems to be plural already. Likewise it is probably the subject of Great Britain, hence a noun as well. You can have a British person or British people if you like. A famous British singer or a group of British singers. The thing doesn't want to bluge!

Answer 4

British is not the "british" equivalent of American - British is an adjective, American is a noun (at least in your example)
an American -> (some) Americans
the closest equivalent noun is Brit, a colloquial use of the adjective,hence
a Brit - > (some) Brits.... but really this is an informal way of saying a british person -> (some) british people, and you can see that the adjective form does not change.

Answer 5

The etymology of the name Britain is thought to derive from a Celtic word, Pritani, "painted people/men", a reference to the island's inhabitants use of body paint and tattoos (sounds like a normal night out for me in manchester)

I always thought that British could be the singular or plural, but i could be wrong

Answer 6

The "Britons" were a tribe living in what has become England around Roman times (I believe. Any clarification welcome) along with the "Angles" as were "Scots" who lived funnily enough in Scotland (along with Picts originally from Ireland). From Britons came Britain (later Great Britain) from Angles came Angle-land hence England. The term Briton (generally shortened to 'Brits' nowadays) is still used as singular form of British the plural form, the country is Great Britain and if you want to be politically correct the singular is English, Scots (not Scotch thats a drink) Welsh or Irish depending on their country of origin.

Answer 7

Brit singular

Brits / British plural

Answer 8

British---->British

Answer 9

British is an adjective, not a noun, so there is not a'plural'.

although maybe it is a collective noun, ie 'The British' but more properly that would be 'the British people'....

or you could use 'Brit' and 'Brits'
or possibly 'Briton' but could cause confusion with the residents of Brittany so maybe best not that option.

Answer 10

No plural form for adjectives, (which describe things).

The corresponding noun (which names things) is a Briton, plural Britons, .

Sometimes, the adjective and corresponding noun have similar forms, such as American, which is what caused your confusion.

British cars / American cars (adjective)
All Britons / Americans (noun)

Answer 11

I am British
You are British
He is British
She is British
We are British
They are British

British is the singular and the plural