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According to the CambridgeGEL, headquarters has the same singular and plural form, but HQs is the plural of the abbreviation of "headquarters".

Aren't both statements contradictory? Apparently people use it as fallows:

A company with one headquarters has an HQ. A company with two headquarters has two HQs. According to Wiktionary, hdqrs (plural hdqrs).

Yet, does h.q. or H.Q. have a similar plural?

GJC
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  • PIN → personal identification *number. PINs* → personal identification *numbers. An s* is added to an acronym to indicate its plurality, regardless of the spelling of the words that the acronym stands for. – Jason Bassford Jul 10 '20 at 16:19
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    In a way, of course they are. But don't confuse 'contradictory' with 'wrong'. That's English for you. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 10 '20 at 16:21
  • @EdwinAshworth A company with one headquarters has an HQ. A company with two headquarters has two HQs. According to Wiktionary, hdqrs (plural hdqrs). Yet, does h.q. or H.Q. have a similar plural? – GJC Jul 10 '20 at 16:29
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    Which company has two headquarters? – Weather Vane Jul 10 '20 at 16:33
  • Isn't this a really good reason to swithch to HQ / HQs! – Edwin Ashworth Jul 10 '20 at 16:34
  • I have never seen headquarters with a plural meaning where it refers to two different administrative units. But when it does, two headquarters fine. And I highly doubt that one would need to abbreviate that....https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/a-question-for-amazon-how-many-headquarters-can-youhave.html – Lambie Jul 10 '20 at 17:11
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    @WeatherVane Very few if any have more than one HQ but if you have multiple corporate clients you could say "I've visited the HQs of all my clients in the last year." since each client will have an HQ. – BoldBen Jul 10 '20 at 21:09

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