Learn English – Plural of “staff” (stick) — “staffs” or “staves”?

grammatical-numbernouns

Which would be the correct use in the following sentence.

I'm a Shepard and I have many staffs/staves.

Best Answer

For staff in the sense of "a body of employees", the plural is always staff; otherwise, both staffs and staves are acceptable, except in compounds, such as flagstaffs. Staves is rare in North America except in the sense of "magic rod", or the musical notation tool; stave of a barrel or cask is a back-formation from staves, which is its plural.