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PlainSpell

ship

/ˈʃɪp/noun, verb

ship is spelled S-H-I-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 85 times per million words in written English, the 1,251st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ship means “A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ship is ships or 'ships.

How many letters and syllables are in ship?

Letters4: S-H-I-P
Syllables1
In writing85 times per million words; the 1,251st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is ship?

Ship appears 85 times per million words in written English, the 1,251st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce ship?

  • /ˈʃɪp/
  • [ˈʃʰɪp]

Ship has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-a_ship.ogg, En-us-ship.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst--ship.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with ship?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ship.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: pish.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of ship

  • ships plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • shipping participle, present
  • shipped participle, past
  • 'ships plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ship mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

    A spaceship.

  4. 4

    A particular still life consisting of an empty cell surrounded by six live cells.

  5. 5

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

  6. 6

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

  7. 7

    The third card of the Lenormand deck.

  8. 8

    datedAn aircraft.

  9. 9

    slangA romantic pairing of two or more characters or real people, especially one imagined by fans.

  10. 10

    Clipping of relationship.

verb

  1. 1

    To send by water-borne transport.

  2. 2

    To send (a parcel or container) to a recipient (by any means of transport).

    to ship freight by railroad

  3. 3

    To release (a product, not necessarily physical) to vendors or customers; to launch.

    Our next issue ships early next year.

  4. 4

    To engage to serve on board a vessel.

    to ship seamen

  5. 5

    To embark on a ship.

  6. 6

    To put or secure in its place.

    to ship the tiller or rudder

  7. 7

    To take in or take on (water) over the sides of a vessel.

    We were shipping so much water I was sure we would capsize.

  8. 8

    colloquialTo leave, depart, scram.

    Douglas: Sorry girls, you better go. Girls! Ship it!

  9. 9

    slangTo support or approve of a fictional romantic relationship between two characters, typically in fan fiction or other fandom contexts.

    I ship Kirk and Spock in Star Trek.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ship in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvaisseau, bateau, navire (large water craft), poster, expédier (to send a parcel or container), -esse (suffix denoting a property or state of being)
GermanSchiff (large water craft), verschicken, versenden (to send a parcel or container), -schaft (suffix denoting a property or state of being), verschiffen (to send by water-borne transport), weitergeben (to pass from one person to another)
Portuguesenavio (large water craft), mandar, enviar (to send a parcel or container), embarcar (to send by water-borne transport), nave (vessel which travels through any medium other…), ship (fictional relationship)
Spanishbarco, buque, nave, navío, nao, pino (large water craft)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does ship come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ship