Teamwork

How to spell teamwork

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce teamwork

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does teamwork mean?

1. nounThe combined, coordinated effort of a group working towards a shared goal.

Teamwork in a sentence

• The project succeeded because of strong teamwork across every department.

• Good teamwork meant the new warehouse opened ahead of schedule.

Where does teamwork come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Teamwork is a transparent English compound, joining two old native words. 'Team' descends from the Old English 'team', which originally meant a set of draught animals harnessed together to pull a load, a sense still echoed when we speak of a team of horses or oxen; that earlier meaning carried the idea of creatures yoked to a shared task. 'Work' comes from the Old English 'weorc', meaning labour or effort, and both elements share deep Germanic roots. The combined word 'teamwork' is comparatively modern, appearing in English during the nineteenth century to describe the coordinated effort of people pulling together much as harnessed animals once did. Because both halves are ordinary, familiar words, the spelling holds no real trap once you remember it is written as a single closed compound rather than two separate words.

How the word is built

• team (a group working together)
• work (effort, labour)