Etymograph

English

shipping

Shipping comes from Middle English schipping, from schippen ‘to take ship’, from Old English scipian, from Proto-Germanic *skipōną, from *skipą ‘ship’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skipą1‘ship’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skipōną1‘to arrange, equip’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150scipian2‘to take ship; to equip a ship’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schippen2‘to take ship, navigate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schipping2
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592shipping2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English scipian
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English shipping
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “God send 'em good shipping.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skipąWiktionary, Old English scipian‘ship’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skipōnąWiktionary, Old English scipian‘to arrange, equip’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150scipianWiktionary, English shipping‘to take ship; to equip a ship’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schippenWiktionary, English shipping‘to take ship, navigate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schippingWiktionary, English shipping
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592shippingWiktionary, English shipping. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “God send 'em good shipping.”

Formed from ship + -ing

Proto-Germanic *skipą ‘ship’

Proto-West Germanic *skip

Old English sċip

Middle English chip

English ship

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to cut’

nice, science, scientific, conscious, kyle, shift, ski, shed, squire, skipper, shin, sheath, skeet, scuttle, prescient, scullery, skein, chine, shud, 42 more

through Proto-Germanic *skipą ‘ship’

skip, skiff, 5 more

through Proto-Germanic *skipōną ‘to arrange, equip’

equipment, equip, 2 more

Today it means

noun The transportation of goods.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shipping”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English scipian. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *skipą / shipping

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