'team-supportive' originates from English, combining the noun 'team' and the adjective 'supportive'; 'team' traces back to Old English 'tēam' meaning 'offspring, line, group', and 'supportive' ultimately traces to Latin 'supportare', where the prefix 'sub-' meant 'under' and 'portare' meant 'to carry'.

'team' changed from Old English 'tēam' (originally 'descendants' or 'line') into the modern sense 'group' in Middle and Modern English, while 'support' came from Latin 'supportare' → Old French (soutenir/ soutenir) → Middle English 'supporten' and later formed the adjective 'supportive'; these elements were combined in modern English to form the hyphenated compound adjective 'team-supportive' in contemporary workplace and organizational language.

Initially, the elements referred to separate literal ideas ('team' as a group, 'support' as carrying or sustaining); over time, combining them produced the current compound-adjective meaning of 'providing encouragement or assistance to a team or its members'.