The plural of
bus is
buses. A variant plural,
busses, is also given in the dictionary, but has become so rare that it seems like an error to many people.
Nevertheless,
buses is problematic: it looks like
fuses, but doesn’t rhyme with it.
Abuses doesn’t rhyme in two different possible ways: the noun with the \s\ sound or the verb with the \z\ sound. Words that
do rhyme with bus are usually spelled with a double s, like
fusses or
trusses.
Until 1961, 'busses' was the preferred plural of 'bus' in Merriam-Webster dictionaries. But the word 'buss' is a synonym of 'kiss'. Perhaps it's just as well that 'buses' took over.
Confusing the issue is the word
buss, a synonym of
kiss which could make for some funny interpretations of parking signs for buses.
Buss meaning “kiss” seems to have evolved from the sound of giving a kiss, whereas
bus meaning “a large vehicle for carrying passengers” is an abbreviation of
omnibus, their original name, from the Latin word meaning “for all.”
When the word
bus was new, the two plurals were in competition, but
busesovertook
busses in frequency in the 1930s, and today is the overwhelming choice of writers and editors.
Busses was the preferred form in Merriam-Webster dictionaries until 1961.
As for the verb
bus—which may mean either "to transport someone in a bus" or "to remove dirty dishes from [as from a table]"—we do recognize
bussed and
bussing as variants. But the decision to
buss a customer's table could cost you your job.
