Meanings
plural dualia tantum
- grammarA noun (or specific sense of a noun) that can only occur in the dual, and which lacks forms for singular, plural, and any other number.
The second -c- refers to icgaʹkwal “eel” (duale tantum), a form used alongside of igaʹkwal (masc.).
1909, Edward Sapir, Wishram Texts, page 4, footnote 12 more examples
The only natural-pair noun consistently preferring the dual over the plural, ὄσσε, virtually a duale tantum, refers to the eyes not as mere sense-organs but as ‘windows of the soul’.
1989, Frans Plank, “On Humboldt on the Dual” in Linguistic Categorization, eds. R. Corrigan, F.R. Eckman, and M.P. Noonan, § 2.5, 309Generally singularia tantum are the most common; we find instances with just the plural or with dual and plural but lacking the singular; dualia tantum are quite rare.
2000, Greville G. Corbett, Number, chapter v, § 5.8.2, 175
Origin
- Latinduāle tantum“dual as such; dual only”
- Englishduale tantum
From Latin duāle tantum (“dual as such; dual only”), from duāle + tantum.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Dualetantum
- Dualetantumgrammar: noun that can only occur in the dual
Polish duale tantum
- duale tantumgrammar: noun that can only occur in the dual
Cite this entry
duale tantum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duale%20tantum
“duale tantum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duale%20tantum. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “duale tantum,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duale%20tantum.
Source: duale tantum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.