ENGLISH
REFERENCE

shipping

n. uncountable
C1 Advanced Oxford US //ˈʃɪpɪŋ// UK //ʃˈɪpɪŋ// ship·ping Slang

n. the act of supporting a romantic relationship between two fictional characters or famous people. You do this when you really want two people to date or fall in love.

n. the act of supporting or advocating for a romantic relationship between two people, typically fictional characters or celebrities. A derivative of the word 'relationship', it is a common feature of online fandom culture.


SIMPLE

I am shipping those two characters so hard right now.

CONTEXTUAL

Fans of the show spent years shipping the two leads before the writers finally made them a couple.

COMPLEX

While some viewers find shipping to be a harmless way to engage with media, others argue it can lead to toxic behavior when fans harass actors over their real-life partners.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English schipping, schyppynge, from schippen, schipen (“to take ship, navigate”), from Old English scipian (“to take ship; put in order, equip, man a ship”), equivalent to ship + -ing.

Etymology 2

From ship + -ing.

Etymology 3

Clipping of relationshipping.

Usage

Often used in the progressive form ('shipping') or as a verb ('to ship').

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