staff

¹ American  

[staf, stahf] / stæf, stɑf /

noun

• staffs,
  plural,  plural
• staves
  plural

1. a group of persons, as employees, charged with carrying out the work of an establishment or executing some undertaking.

2. a group of assistants to a manager, superintendent, or executive.

3. a member of a staff.

4. Military.

   1. a body of officers without command authority, appointed to assist a commanding officer.

   2. the parts of any army concerned with administrative matters, planning, etc., rather than with actual participation in combat.

5. those members of an organization serving only in an auxiliary or advisory capacity on a given project.

6. a stick, pole, or rod for aid in walking or climbing, for use as a weapon, etc.

7. a rod or wand serving as a symbol of office or authority, as a crozier, baton, truncheon, or mace.

8. a pole on which a flag is hung or displayed.

9. something that supports or sustains.

10. Music. Also a set of horizontal lines, now five in number, with the corresponding four spaces between them, on which music is written.

11. Archaic. the shaft of a spear, lance, etc.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a military or organizational staff.

   a staff officer; staff meetings.

2. (of a professional person) employed on the staff of a corporation, publication, institution, or the like rather than being self-employed or practicing privately.

   a staff writer; staff physicians at the hospital.

verb (used with object)

• staffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• staffed,
  past participle,  past
• staffing
  present participle

1. to provide with a staff of assistants or workers.

   She staffed her office with excellent secretaries.

2. to serve on the staff of.

3. to send to a staff for study or further work (often followed byout ).

   The White House will staff out the recommendations before making a decision.

verb (used without object)

• staffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• staffed,
  past participle,  past
• staffing
  present participle

1. to hire employees, as for a new office or project (sometimes followed byup ).

   Next month we'll begin staffing up for the reelection campaign.

staff ² American  

[staf, stahf] / stæf, stɑf /

noun

1. a composition of plaster and fibrous material used for a temporary finish and in ornamental work, as on exposition buildings.

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staff ¹ British  

/ stɑːf /

noun

1. a group of people employed by a company, individual, etc, for executive, clerical, sales work, etc

2. (modifier) attached to or provided for the staff of an establishment

   a staff doctor

3. the body of teachers or lecturers of an educational institution, as distinct from the students

4. the officers appointed to assist a commander, service, or central headquarters organization in establishing policy, plans, etc

5. a stick with some special use, such as a walking stick or an emblem of authority

6. something that sustains or supports

   bread is the staff of life

7. a pole on which a flag is hung

8. Usual US name: rod.  a graduated rod used in surveying, esp for sighting to with a levelling instrument

9. Also called: stave.  music

   1. the system of horizontal lines grouped into sets of five (four in the case of plainsong) upon which music is written. The spaces between them are also used, being employed in conjunction with a clef in order to give a graphic indication of pitch

   2. any set of five lines in this system together with its clef

      the treble staff

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verb

1. (tr) to provide with a staff

staff ² British  

/ stɑːf /

noun

1. a mixture of plaster and hair used to cover the external surface of temporary structures and for decoration

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Usage

Plural word for staff The plural form of staff is staffs. For some meanings of the word staff, staves, pronounced [ steyvz ] is also an acceptable plural form. However, it is easier to use the plural form staffs, which is valid for all meanings of the word staff. The plural of several other words that end in -f are also formed this way, including playoff/playoffs, cliff/cliffs, and roof/roofs. In some instances, words that end in -f are made plural by changing the ending to -ves, as in half/halves or leaf/leaves, which derives directly from their original pluralization in Old English. This is the plural form we see in staff/staves.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• staffless
  adjective
• unstaffed
  adjective
• well-staffed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• staffs
  plural
• staves
  plural

Participles

• staffing
  present
• staffed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• staff
  simple
• staffs
  simple
• have staffed
  perfect
• has staffed
  perfect
• am staffing
  progressive
• are staffing
  progressive
• is staffing
  progressive
• have been staffing
  perfect progressive
• has been staffing
  perfect progressive

Past

• staffed
  simple
• had staffed
  perfect
• was staffing
  progressive
• were staffing
  progressive
• had been staffing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will staff
  simple
• will have staffed
  perfect
• will be staffing
  progressive
• will have been staffing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of staff¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun staf(fe), stafte, Old English stæf, stæb; cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Old Norse stafr staff, Sanskrit root stabh- “support”

Origin of staff²

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; of obscure origin; perhaps from German Stoff stuff

Explanation

Staff means everyone who works at a particular place. You might suspect that the town library's not a very fun place to work if its staff is always incredibly cranky every time you visit. Staff refers to all of the employees at a business, or especially a school, where the teachers as a group are called "the staff." A completely different meaning of staff is a long wooden stick or rod, particularly one that has a specific purpose — like a walking stick or a weapon. This is the original meaning of staff, from the Old English stæf. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the word staff was used to mean "group of employees."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

staff staffs staves staffed staffing

But even some retailers that cut back on store staff in recent years are reversing course.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Regan said he was upset with her over an allegation that she previously threw “four staff members of UHW out of the state council office.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

He said he was used to managing people. having six staff working on the farm, and naturally took on a role of looking after others.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

I would arrange everything privately, in coordination only with the management and staff of each restaurant.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

The leprosarium is funded by the government, but there isn’t enough money to hire staff or purchase basic supplies, especially after the ravages of war.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

As employees became more productive with AI tools, the thinking went, enterprises would trim their staffs and purchase fewer software subscriptions, also known as “seats.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026

Allen’s shows are significantly less expensive to produce than the traditional sofa-and-desk format for a major TV network, which have traditionally used high-priced hosts, live bands and substantial writing staffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026

He helps decide who staffs agencies, what gets funded, which direction the country points in when it comes to research.

From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026

These funds-of-funds typically employ large staffs to rigorously analyze the track record of other hedge funds in hopes of identifying those with the greatest probability of producing impressive future returns.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 22, 2025

On La Noche Buena, December 24, no costumed shepherds with bells on their staffs roamed the streets.

From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty

Early-morning pilgrims had arrived by foot or car, some in traditional white smocks and thatched hats, carrying wooden staves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

"In our model, the barrel staves spread out in steps," he says, "each step representing a new limiting factor that becomes active as the cell grows faster."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025

France's Emmanuel Macron was on Friday due to pick a head of government tasked with pulling the country out of a political gridlock, in a move that staves off fresh elections for now.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025

It means not all the cuts will go ahead and it staves off effective bankruptcy, but it also saddles Havering with high debt repayments for the next 20 years.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2024

The music in each of the staves in Figure 1.55 would sound like this23 .

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

A China-based app studio built a network of more than 20 dating apps that claimed to be staffed by real people but were secretly run by Claude.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

Some diners have been defecting to competitors like Chick-fil-A, which are known for heavily staffed, attentive service.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

And investors may have underappreciated just how strong second-quarter earnings were, according to Patrick Palfrey, head of portfolio strategy at Seaport Research Partners, a Chicago-based research firm staffed by many Wall Street veterans.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

The report raised concerns about staffing and support across maternity services and said postnatal care was inadequately staffed and supported.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Women who did get assigned to another section were usually staffed on temporary duty and eventually returned, keeping the two offices full, at least for the moment.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

The RCM said staffing pressures were one factor affecting the care available.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Wonderful employs about 650 people, which is more than 10-times its staffing level a year ago, and plans to have a workforce of more than 1,000 by year-end.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The cuts amount to roughly 10% of its global workforce, bringing staffing back to levels last seen in 2021.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

This is hardly the first staffing problem for Collins.

From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026

“I remember seeing Harry Glicken curled up in a dark corner at the Vancouver headquarters,” said Brugman who was still staffing the phones late that day.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

Related Words

• cadre
• crew
• faculty
• force
• organization
• personnel
• team
• work force