A Team Was a Set of Animals Pulling Together
A team is a group working together. The word first meant harnessed draught animals.
A team is a group of people working together toward a goal. The oldest sense is agricultural: Old English *team* meant a set of draught animals harnessed together, and that survives in *a team of horses* and in *teamster*, originally one who drove them. The human sense grew from the image of pulling in the same direction. The word also once meant offspring or a family line, related to *teem*, to be full or to bear young.
- A working group. *A project team.*
- Harnessed animals. *A team of oxen.*
- To work together. *Teaming up.*
- Teamster — a driver. *A teamster.*
- Old English — *team*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | team | A team. |
| Plural | teams | Teams. |
| Verb | team | Teaming up. |
| Agent | teamster | A teamster. |
| Related | teem | To teem. |
- The team won easily.Sport.
- A team of oxen.Original.
- Teamsters drove wagons.History.
Why a teamster is called that
- A teamster originally drove a team of draught animals
- The name transferred to drivers of motor lorries
- The Teamsters union kept the word after the horses went
- Team meant harnessed animals long before it meant people
- Pulling together is the metaphor behind both
Old English *team*, a set of draught animals, of Germanic origin, related to *teem*.
What did team originally mean?
A set of draught animals harnessed together, which is why we still speak of a team of horses.
Why is a lorry driver called a teamster?
Because the word originally meant one who drove a team of animals, and it transferred to motor haulage.