Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ship

/ˈʃɪp/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.93 in modern English

Syllables
ship
IPA
/ˈʃɪp/
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A vessel which travels through any medium other than across land, such as an airship or spaceship.

noun

A spaceship.

noun

A sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts.

Archaic; Formal

noun

A dish or utensil (originally fashioned like the hull of a ship) used to hold incense.

noun

The third card of the Lenormand deck.

noun

An aircraft.

Dated

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-? Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *skey-der.? Proto-Germanic *skipą Proto-West Germanic *skip Old English scip Middle English schip English ship From Middle English chip, schepe, schip, schup, scip, scippe, ship, shup, ssip, from Old English sċip, sċyp, from Proto-West Germanic *skip, from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“ship; tub, vessel”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to split”). More at shift. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian schap, skap, Skep (“ship”), Saterland Frisian Schip, Skip (“ship”), West Frisian skip (“ship”), Central Franconian Scheff (“ship”), Dutch schip (“ship”), German Schiff (“ship”), Low German Schipp (“ship”), Luxembourgish Schëff (“ship”), Vilamovian śejf, siejft (“ship”), Yiddish שיף (shif, “ship”), Danish skib (“ship”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skip (“ship”), Swedish skepp (“ship”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐍀 (skip, “ship”). Compare typologically boat, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Usage

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Derived Forms

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Frequently Paired Words

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Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce ship?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈʃɪp/.
What does ship mean?
A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.
Where does ship come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce ship

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “ship”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈʃɪp/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “ship”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “ship” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.