Meanings
plural -ships
- countableuncountableAppended to a noun to form a new noun denoting a property or state of being, time spent in a role, or a specialised union. In particular, the way a set of social duties associated with a particular role shapes or develops one's character.
owner + -ship → ownership
1 more example
fellow + -ship → fellowship
Synonyms & antonyms
suffixAppended to a noun to form a new noun denoting a property or state of being, time spent in a role, or a specialised union. In particular, the way a set of social duties associated with a particular role shapes or develops one's character.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*-skapiz
- Proto-West Germanic*-skapi
- Old English-sċiepe
- Middle English-schipe
- English-ship
From Middle English -schipe, -shippe, from Old English -sċiepe, from Proto-West Germanic *-skapi, from Proto-Germanic *-skapiz. Compare Scots -schip, West Frisian -skip, Dutch -schap, German -schaft, Swedish -skap, Icelandic -skapur. Related to shape.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian -ство
- -ство (-stvo)suffix denoting a property or state of being
Czech -ství
- -stvísuffix denoting a property or state of being
Danish -skab
- -skabsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Dutch -schap
- -schapsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Esperanto -eco
- -ecosuffix denoting a property or state of being
Finnish -us
- -ussuffix denoting a property or state of being
French -esse, -eur
- -essesuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -eursuffix denoting a property or state of being
German -schaft
- -schaftsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Hungarian -ság, -ség
- -ságsuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -ségsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Icelandic -skapur
- -skapursuffix denoting a property or state of being
Italian -ezza, -ità
- -ezzasuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -itàsuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -enzasuffix denoting a property or state of being
Norwegian Bokmål -skap
- -skapsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Persian -ی
- -یsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Polish -stwo
- -stwosuffix denoting a property or state of being
Portuguese -idade
- -idadesuffix denoting a property or state of being
Romanian -ie, -itate
- -iesuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -itatesuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -tatesuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -ătatesuffix denoting a property or state of being
Russian -ство
- -ство (-stvo)suffix denoting a property or state of being
Spanish -azgo, -dad
- -azgosuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -dadsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Swedish -skap
- -skapsuffix denoting a property or state of being
Turkish -lık, -lik
- -lıksuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -liksuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -luksuffix denoting a property or state of being
- -lüksuffix denoting a property or state of being
Vietnamese mối
- mốisuffix denoting a property or state of being
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with -ship
All rhymes →Cite this entry
-ship. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ship
“-ship.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ship. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ship,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ship.
Source: -ship on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.