headquarters

English

Etymology

From head +‎ quarters.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛdˈkwɔː.təz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdˌkwɔɹ.tɚz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

headquarters (plural headquarters)

1. The military installation from which troops are commanded and orders are issued; the military unit consisting of a commander and his support staff.
2. The center of an organization's operations or administration.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[1]:

     As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

   • 2025 February 19, Jordan Valinsky, “KFC is leaving Kentucky”, in CNN Business‎^[2]:

     The chicken chain’s parent company, Yum Brands, announced Tuesday that KFC’s corporate headquarters is leaving Kentucky for Texas, joining sister brand Pizza Hut’s offices in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

3. A place of concentrated activity or influence.
   • [1888 [1887 March 1], “The Great Mahomedan Rebellion in Yunnan”, in The China Review‎^[3], volume XVI, →OCLC, page 85:

     The head-quarters of the rebellion in the East were at a little town called Hui-lung.]

Usage notes

• The word is plural in construction and can take singular or plural verbs.

Synonyms

• HQ, h.q.
• head office

Derived terms

• subheadquarters

Related terms

• (US) headquarter

Translations

military installation

• Afrikaans: hoofkwartier sg
• Albanian: shtab (sq) m
• Arabic: الْقِيَادَة الْعَامَّة f (al-qiyāda al-ʕāmma)
• Armenian: շտաբ (hy) (štab), շտաբակայան (hy) (štabakayan)
• Azerbaijani: qərargah (az)
• Basque: kuartel nagusi
• Belarusian: штаб m (štab), штаб-кватэ́ра f (štab-kvatéra)
• Bulgarian: щаб (bg) m (štab), щабкварти́ра f (štabkvartíra), центра́ла f (centrála)
• Catalan: quarter general m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大本營 / 大本营 (zh) (dàběnyíng), 指揮部 / 指挥部 (zh) (zhǐhuībù), 司令部 (zh) (sīlìngbù)

• Crimean Tatar: ştab
• Czech: velitelství (cs) n, štáb (cs) m
• Danish: hovedkvarter n
• Dutch: hoofdkwartier (nl) n
• Esperanto: stabejo
• Estonian: peakorter (et), staap (et)
• Finnish: päämaja (fi), pääesikunta
• French: quartier général (fr) m
• Galician: cuartel xeneral m
• Georgian: შტაბი (šṭabi), მთავარი სამმართველო (mtavari sammartvelo), შტაბ-ბინა (šṭab-bina)
• German: Hauptquartier (de) n
• Greek: αρχηγείο (el) n (archigeío), επιτελείο (el) n (epiteleío)
• Hebrew: מִפְקָדָה (he) f (mifkadá)
• Hindi: मुख्यालय (hi) m (mukhyālay)
• Hungarian: parancsnokság (hu), főhadiszállás (hu)
• Icelandic: höfuðstöðvar f pl
• Indonesian: markas besar (id)
• Irish: ceanncheathrú f, príomhlongfort m
• Italian: quartier generale (it) m
• Japanese: 司令部 (ja) (しれいぶ, shireibu)
• Kazakh: штаб (ştab), штаб-пәтер (ştab-päter), бас кеңсе (bas keñse), бас штаб (bas ştab)
• Khmer: ទីបញ្ជាការ (tii bɑñciə kaa)
• Korean: 사령부(司令部) (ko) (saryeongbu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بارەگا (barega)

  Northern Kurdish: biryargeh (ku), qerargeh (ku)

• Kyrgyz: штаб (ky) (ştab), штаб-квартира (ştab-kvartira)
• Lao: ກອງບັນຊາການ (kǭng ban sā kān)
• Latin: praetōrium n
• Latvian: štābs m, komisariāts m
• Lithuanian: štabas m
• Macedonian: штаб m (štab), центра́ла f (centrála)
• Maori: papataunga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hovedkvarter n

  Nynorsk: hovudkvarter n

• Pashto: قرارګاه f (qarārgā), هېډکوارټر m (heḍkwārṭar)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سِتاد (setâd), قَرارْگاهِ مَرْکَزی (ġarârgâh-e markazi), قَرارْگاه (ġarârgâh)

• Polish: sztab (pl) m
• Portuguese: quartel-general (pt) m
• Romanian: cartier general n
• Russian: штаб (ru) m (štab), штаб-кварти́ра (ru) f (štab-kvartíra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: заповедни́штво n, заповједни́штво n, шта̑б m

  Roman: zapovedništvo n, zapovjedníštvo (sh) n, štȃb (sh) m

• Slovak: veliteľstvo n, štáb m
• Slovene: poveljstvo n, štab m, sedež m (eg of a company)
• Spanish: cuartel general m, cuarteles generales m pl
• Swedish: högkvarter (sv) n
• Tagalog: punong himpilan, punong tanggapan
• Tajik: қароргоҳ (qarorgoh), ситод (sitod), штаб (štab), қароргоҳи штаб (qarorgoh-i štab)
• Thai: กองบัญชาการ (gɔɔng-ban-chaa-gaan), บ.ก. (th) (bɔɔ.gɔɔ.)
• Turkish: karargâh (tr)
• Turkmen: ştab, ştab-kwartira
• Ukrainian: штаб m (štab), штаб-кварти́ра (uk) f (štab-kvartýra)
• Urdu: ہیڈ کُوارْٹَر m (heḍ kuārṭar), مَرْکَزی دَفْتَر m (markazī daftar), صَدْر دَفْتَر m (sadr daftar), قَرار گاہ m (qarār gāh)
• Uyghur: باش شتاب (bash shtab)
• Uzbek: shtab (uz), shtab-kvartira (uz), qarorgoh (uz), shtab qarorgohi
• Vietnamese: tổng hành dinh (vi) (總行營)

center of organisation's activity

• Afrikaans: hoofkwartier, hoofkantoor
• Arabic: مَقَرّ (ar) m (maqarr)
• Armenian: գլխամաս (hy) (glxamas)
• Basque: egoitza, buzagitza, buruzagitza, bulego, zentrala
• Bulgarian: це́нтър (bg) m (céntǎr)
• Burmese: ဌာနချုပ် (my) (htana.hkyup)
• Catalan: central (ca) m, seu (ca) f, seu central f, prefectura f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 總部 / 总部 (zh) (zǒngbù)

• Czech: centrála f
• Danish: hovedkvarter n
• Dutch: hoofdkwartier (nl) n, hoofdkantoor (nl) n
• Esperanto: sidejo (eo)
• Finnish: pääkonttori (fi), keskustoimisto
• French: siège social (fr) m, siège (fr) f
• Galician: sede (gl) f, sede central f, xefatura f
• Georgian: შტაბი (šṭabi), ცენტრი (cenṭri), მთავარი სამმართველო (mtavari sammartvelo), შტაბ-ბინა (šṭab-bina), სათაო ოფისი (satao opisi)
• German: Zentrale (de) f, Präsidium (de) n
• Greek: έδρα (el) f (édra)
• Hebrew: מטכ׳ל m (matei klali)
• Hindi: मुख्यालय (hi) m (mukhyālay)
• Ido: sideyo (io)
• Indonesian: kantor pusat (id)
• Irish: príomhoifig f, ardoifig f
• Italian: sede centrale f
• Japanese: 本部 (ja) (ほんぶ, honbu), 本社 (ja) (ほんしゃ, honsha)
• Kapampangan: pun tanggapan
• Kazakh: штаб (ştab), бас кеңсе (bas keñse)
• Khmer: ការិយាល័យ​កណ្ដាល (kaariyaalay-kɑndaal)
• Korean: 본부(本部) (ko) (bonbu), 본사(本社) (ko) (bonsa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بارەگا (barega)

• Malay: ibu pejabat (ms)
• Malayalam: ആസ്ഥാനം (ml) (āsthānaṁ)
• Manx: ard-oik m
• Maori: papataunga
• Navajo: atʼoh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hovedkvarter n, hovedkontor n

  Nynorsk: hovudkvarter n, hovudkontor n

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سِتاد (setâd)

• Polish: centrala (pl) f, kwatera (pl) f, siedziba (pl) f
• Portuguese: sede (pt) f, matriz (pt) f
• Romanian: sediu (ro) n, centrală (ro) f
• Russian: гла́вное управле́ние n (glávnoje upravlénije), центр (ru) m (centr), головно́й о́фис m (golovnój ófis), гла́вный о́фис m (glávnyj ófis), штаб-кварти́ра (ru) f (štab-kvartíra)
• Spanish: sede (es) f, jefatura (es) f, sede central f
• Swedish: huvudkvarter n, högkvarter (sv) n
• Tagalog: punong himpilan, punong tanggapan
• Thai: สำนักงานใหญ่
• Vietnamese: trụ sở (vi) (住所)

place

• Bulgarian: център (bg) m (centǎr)
• Finnish: keskuspaikka
• Greek: κέντρο (el) n (kéntro)
• Vietnamese: trung tâm (vi) (中心)

Verb

headquarters

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of headquarter