Yo C
Noodle or Noodles? Since I started learning English, I've used the word "Noodle" whenever I talk about my favorite food. 
However, yesterday evening, when I said that "My favorite food is chicken noodle.", my friend told me that I'd better say "noodles" instead of "noodle". She also said that she's never heard anyone saying "noodle". 
It's the fact that I could find a lot of results on Google related to "Noodle", so my question is When do you use "noodle" and when do you use "noodles"? 
Thank you. 


Apr 5, 2019 7:03 AM
Comments · 6
4
To expand on John's useful and correct answer, when a noun is used to modify another noun, the modifier (which functions as an adjective) is *usually* in the singular. For example, we buy eggs in an egg carton. Although there are a dozen eggs, the word is “egg carton”, not “*eggs carton”.
 
“Noodle” is countable, so unless you have a very small appetite or a very large noodle*, it’s normally used in the plural (see MacMillan dictionary entry below). You may be thinking of “rice”, which is considered uncountable — to count it, we talk of “grains of rice” or “bowls of rice” (etc.). Or perhaps you are thinking of the word “pasta” (borrowed from Italian) which is generally uncountable. Also, note that specific pastas (i.e. types of pasta), such as “spaghetti” and “macaroni” are usually considered singular in English, while they are plural in Italian. 

*Note that in slang, "noodle" can mean a person's head, or by extension, intellect. Since people only have one head / brain, this usage would be in the singular when referring to a single person.



April 5, 2019
3

You are welcome:

so you can say "chicken with noodles" if you are eating or having chicken and noodles together.

or "chicken noodle soup", "a noodle pie" if you make a pie full of noodles. 

it's noodles if the noddles are on a plate of food. or in a bowl of food but separate.

and "noodle" + the  noun soup, pie etc. 

There once was a craze to have strange flavoured ice cream in cones, in the UK.

If somebody invented chicken noodle flavoured ice cream. You would order a "chicken noodle ice cream"

I am not sure if Americans remove the French "our" from the word "flavour" like they do with most other French originated words, to spell it "flavor"


April 5, 2019
2
Yes, Americans spell it "flavor".
April 5, 2019
2

"chicken noodles" if you are eating or going to have a plate or bowl of noodles. Whether garnished or not or with salad or any other extras.

"chicken noodle soup" if you are having chicken soup with noodles in the soup or chicken flavoured noodle soup.


April 5, 2019
1
Thank you so much for your help ^^
April 5, 2019
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Yo C
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, Vietnamese
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), English
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