English Experts

[anita]

Hi, there. I was reading a text about the Gold Rush when I saw that certain guy "had 12,000 head of cattle". My question is: why isn't the word "head" in the plural form??? Is it a special use or something? Please, help!
Thank u!

[Marcio_Farias]

Hello anita. dictionary.com yielded, "10. a person or animal considered merely as one of a number, herd, or group: ten head of cattle." It apparently uses the word head in the singular.

So you can safely use the word in the singular, too.

[Flavia.lm]

Macmillan confirma que a palavra 'head' usada neste contexto está no plural, ainda que sem o s

8[plural] used as a way of counting farm animals
300 head of cattle
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dict ... ad#head_25

[anita]

Wow, guys, that's news to me. Thank u so!

[Henry Cunha]

It's a special use. I don't think there is any other similar case in English, so you just have to learn this one. Which is a good thing.

Btw, 12 heads of cattle would be the heads of 12 dead animals. Which might not be a good thing.