Waitstaffs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An establishment’s employees responsible for attending to diners
2. a collective term for individuals serving food and beverages in dining settings
3. a group of workers ensuring customer satisfaction during meals and events

Etymology: "Waitstaffs" is the plural of "waitstaff," a group noun for the people who serve food and drink in a restaurant or dining room. The plural form is a secondary usage: strictly speaking, "waitstaff" already names a collective body of workers, so adding the "s" treats separate staff teams as individual units, as in "the two waitstaffs at the hotel's rival restaurants." The base word is a straightforward compound of "wait" and "staff." "Wait" here means to attend upon someone at table, a sense older than the modern idea of pausing, and "staff" is the body of people employed to carry out a task. Put together, they describe an organised group of attendants, and the word is built from transparent English parts rather than borrowed from another language.

Synonyms: servers, waiters, waitresses, attendants, hospitality staff