There are several words in Italian that have two plural forms—a masculine and a feminine. Many of these are related to parts of the body and have diverse meanings. IRREGULAR PLURALS | SINGULAR | MASCULINE PLURAL | FEMININE PLURAL | braccio | i bracci (arms of a lamp or cross) | le braccia (arms) | budello | i budelli (streets, alleyways) | le budella (intestines) | calcagno | i calcagni (ankles) | stare alle calcagna (to follow someone closely) | ciglio | i cigli (edge, rim) | le ciglia (eyelashes) | dito | i diti (used when followed by the finger s name) | le dita (fingers) | labbro | i labbri border, brim | le labbra lips | osso | gli ossi (bones for dogs to eat) | le ossa (bones) |
There are also body parts with masculine and feminine plurals that have the same meaning. One such example is ginocchio. Both i ginocchio and le ginocchia refer to "the knees." |