Plural of ethos

irregular plural

The plural of ethos is ethe or ethea.

Forms of ethos

The relation between social groups and their ethe is rational; they vary in fixed ratios.1942, Journal of Legal and Political Sociology, International Universities Press, page 85. From the entry ethe
These three valuational attitudes form a triangle of mutually opposing ethea.1994, Richard T. Hull, A Quarter Century of Value Inquiry, page 180. From the entry ethea
The question arises from a limited ethos combined with its universalization, which transgresses its own limits, and its claim to authority over other ethea.1996, Charles E. Scott, On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethics and Politics, page 46. From the entry ethea

noun The character or fundamental values of a person, people, culture, or movement.
noun A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker invokes their authority, competence or expertise in an attempt to persuade others that their view is correct.
noun The traits in a work of art which express the ideal or typic character, as influenced by the ethos (character or fundamental values) of a people, rather than emotional situations or individual character traits in a narrow sense; opposed to pathos.

What is the plural of ethos?: The plural of ethos is ethe or ethea.
Which is correct, ethe or ethea?: Both are used. ethe is the more common of the two in English writing.
Is ethos countable?: Ethos is a countable noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: ethos (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “Plural of ethos.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plural/ethos. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.