Synthetic staple fibers for an airlaid nonwoven fabric were granted a patent. The staple fibers have a fiber length of 0.1 to 45 mm and a cross-sectioned profile having 1 to 30 concavities each satisfying the requirement: D/L=0.1 to 0.5. D represents a large distance between a tangent line drawn to a pair of convexities from which an opening of the concavity is defined and a bottom of the concavity measured in a direction at right angles to the tangent line. L represents a distance between two points of contact of the pair of convexities with the tangent line.