 Alternations in Italian heteroclitic nouns such as "l'uovo fresco" ("the fresh egg") / "le uova fresche" ("the fresh eggs") are usually analysed as masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural, with an irregular plural in "-a".However, it is also consistent with their historical development to say that ' is simply a regular neuter noun (', plural "ova") and that the characteristic ending for words agreeing with these nouns is "-o" in the singular and "-e" in the plural.The same alternation in gender exists in certain Romanian nouns, but is considered regular as it is more common than in Italian.