Etymology

shipwreck

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Today it means: A ship that has sunk or run aground so that it is no longer seaworthy; a ruined vessel or its remains. Full definition →

Middle English schipwrak ← Old English sċipwræc
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromsċipwræc“jetsam”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromschipwrak
  3. English todayshipwreck

From Middle English schipwrak, from Old English sċipwræc (“jetsam”), equivalent to ship + wrack. Cognate with Scots schip-wrak (“to shipwreck”, verb), Dutch scheepswrak (“shipwreck”), German Schiffswrack (“shipwreck”), Swedish skeppsvrak (“shipwreck”), Danish skibsvrag (“shipwreck”). Modern form is due to influence from wreck. By surface analysis, ship + wreck.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.