Browse Definitions :

The plural of “OS”

Writing for Business

Which is correct?
Running only Web apps is expected to make Chrome more secure than other ______.
a. OS’s
b. OSes
c. OSs

Answer: c.

I have to say, I prefer OSes myself, probably because I prefer spellings that reflect pronunciation when there’s any question. However the usual form for pluralizing an initialism or acronym is simply to add an s, even if the word already ends in an s. See a debate about this issue here.

This post has been edited — and the answer changed — in response to an extremely irate email I received yesterday. Oh my! People feel very strongly about spelling issues. We’re heading into the festive season here and so I would prefer not to be tarred and feathered. Nevertheless, I would have stuck to my guns if I’d felt justified.

To my dismay, I found that according to Microsoft’s style guide and some other technical sources, OSs is the standard plural of OS. I don’t like it, but it is not up to me.

Follow us on Twitter @tao_of_grammar

Dig Deeper on Writing for Business

Networking
Security
CIO
HRSoftware
  • talent pipeline

    A talent pipeline is a pool of candidates who are ready to fill a position.

  • recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)

    Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is when an employer turns the responsibility of finding potential job candidates over to a ...

  • human resources (HR) generalist

    A human resources generalist is an HR professional who handles the daily responsibilities of talent management, employee ...

Customer Experience
  • marketing campaign management

    Marketing campaign management is the planning, executing, tracking and analysis of direct marketing campaigns.

  • sales-qualified lead (SQL)

    A sales-qualified lead (SQL) is a prospective customer that has been researched and vetted -- first by an organization's ...

  • Adobe Experience Platform

    Adobe Experience Platform is a suite of customer experience management (CXM) solutions from Adobe.

Close