What does teammate mean?
A teammate is someone who belongs to the same team or group as you. The term is especially common in sports, where players who compete alongside one another are each other’s teammates, but it also applies in workplaces, schools, organizations, projects, and other collaborative settings. “Teammate” usually implies a shared team identity and may suggest cooperation, mutual responsibility, or friendly support, although it can also appear in discussions of competition, rivalry, and disagreement within a team. In the workplace, “teammate” often means a colleague who works closely with someone in a particular group rather than an entire organization. The word is typically neutral and informal in everyday use, while remaining suitable for professional contexts when it precisely describes a shared role. Its meaning can also extend figuratively to people connected by a common purpose, as in “teammates in the fight against climate change,” although the sporting sense remains dominant.
nounA teammate is a person who belongs to the same team or group as someone else, especially in a sporting, workplace, or organizational context.
- A person who is a member of the same team or group as someone else.
"She congratulated her teammate after their team won the championship."
"My teammate covered for me while I was late to practice."
"A good teammate knows when to offer encouragement and when to give someone space."
The regular plural is used when referring to more than one fellow team member.
"The teammates gathered for a team dinner after the game."
The word compresses a whole social idea into two familiar parts: a team is the group, and a mate is the companion who shares it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does teammate come from?
Teammate is a compound formed within English from team and mate. The first element descends from Old English tām, originally referring to people or animals working or moving together, while mate was already used in Middle English for a companion or fellow member, particularly a fellow sailor. The compound developed to mean a fellow member of a team, and the unhyphenated spelling is now standard in both British and American English.
Related word forms
How teammate is actually used
The word is neutral in register and is used in sport, work, education, and other group activities. British English traditionally sometimes hyphenates it as “team-mate,” but “teammate” is now common and standard in both British and American English.