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grammatical number - Why is the plural form of "life" "lives", while the plural form of "still life" is "still lifes"?


Why does the plural form of "life" is "lives", while the plural form of "still life" is "still lifes"?


From Wikipedia:



A still life (plural still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on).




Answer



I would say still life has undergone reification, which transforms it into a "standalone word". How the subcomponent elements work grammatically doesn't automatically affect how the composite form works.


Effectively it's a kind of neologism - not really "new" today, but a lot later than the original word life with its irregular plural. Neologisms almost always have regular plural and verb forms.


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