staff

English Online Dictionary. What means staff‎? What does staff mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English staf, from Old English stæf (“letter of the alphabet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stab, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav.

Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced by or is even from German Stab.

Pronunciation

• enPR: stäf, IPA^(key): /stɑːf/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [stɑːf]
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [stäːf], [stɐːf]
• enPR: stăf, IPA^(key): /stæf/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [stæf], [stɛəf], [steəf]
  • (Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) IPA^(key): [staf], [stäf]
• Rhymes: -ɑːf, -æf

Noun

staff (countable and uncountable, plural staffs or staves or staff)

1. (plural staffs or staves) A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
2. (music, plural staffs or staves) A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
3. (plural staff or staffs) The employees of a business.
4. (uncountable) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.^W
5. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
6. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
7. (archaic) The rung of a ladder.
8. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
9. (engineering) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
10. (surgery) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
11. (military) An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution.
12. (rail transport, archaic) A form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.

Synonyms

• (piece of wood): See Thesaurus:stick
• (music): stave
• (employees): personnel

Derived terms

Descendants

• → French: staff
• → Italian: staff
• → Japanese: スタッフ (sutaffu)
• → Korean: 스태프 (seutaepeu)
• → Malay: staf
• → Portuguese: stafe, staff, estafe (Brazil)
• → Spanish: staff

Translations

See also

Verb

staff (third-person singular simple present staffs, present participle staffing, simple past and past participle staffed)

1. (transitive) To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.

Derived terms

• staffer
• staffing

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

staff

1. Misspelling of staph.

Anagrams

• taffs

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English staff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əsˈtaf]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [esˈtaf]

Noun

staff m (uncountable)

1. staff (employees)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /staf/

Etymology 1

19th century. Obscure, possibly from German staffieren or Old French estofer (modern French étoffer)

Noun

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, mixture of plaster and fibre

Derived terms

• staffer
• staffeur

Etymology 2

20th century. From English staff.

Noun

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, employees of a business

   Synonyms: équipe, personnel

   les membres du staff ― the members of staff

2. governing body (army, corporation, administration, etc.)

Further reading

• “staff”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English staff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstaf/
• Rhymes: -af
• Hyphenation: stàff

Noun

staff m (invariable)

1. staff (people)

Middle English

Noun

staff

1. Alternative form of staf

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English staff.

Noun

staff m (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of stafe

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English staff.

Noun

staff n (plural staffuri)

1. staff

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English staff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /esˈtaf/ [esˈt̪af]
• Rhymes: -af

Noun

staff m (uncountable)

1. staff (employees)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Welsh

Etymology

From English staff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sdaf/, [staf]
• Rhymes: -af

Noun

staff f (plural staffiau, not mutable)

1. staff (employees of a business; commanding officers)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “staff”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies