Etymology
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Words related to ship

*skei- 

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut, split," extension of root *sek- "to cut."

It forms all or part of: abscissa; conscience; conscious; ecu; escudo; escutcheon; esquire; nescience; nescient; nice; omniscience; omniscient; plebiscite; prescience; prescient; rescind; rescission; science; scienter; scilicet; sciolist; scission; schism; schist; schizo-; schizophrenia; scudo; sheath; sheathe; sheave (n.) "grooved wheel to receive a cord, pulley;" shed (v.) "cast off;" shin (n.) "fore part of the lower leg;" shingle (n.1) "thin piece of wood;" shit (v.); shive; shiver (n.1) "small piece, splinter, fragment, chip;" shoddy; shyster; skene; ski; skive (v.1) "split or cut into strips, pare off, grind away;" squire.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit chindhi, chinatti "to break, split up;" Avestan a-sista- "unsplit, unharmed," Greek skhizein "to split, cleave, part, separate;" Latin scindere "to cut, rend, tear asunder, split;" Armenian c'tim "to tear, scratch;" Lithuanian skiesti "to separate, divide;" Old Church Slavonic cediti "to strain;" Old English scitan, Old Norse skita "to defecate;" Old English sceað, Old High German sceida "sheath;" Old Irish sceid "to vomit, spit;" Welsh chwydu "to break open."

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boat (n.)

"small open vessel (smaller than a ship) used to cross waters, propelled by oars, a sail, or (later) an engine," Middle English bot, from Old English bat, from Proto-Germanic *bait- (source also of Old Norse batr, Dutch boot, German Boot), which is possibly from PIE root *bheid- "to split" (Watkins), if the notion is of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk or from split planking. Or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship.

French bateau "boat" is from Old English or Norse. Spanish batel, Italian battello, Medieval Latin batellus likewise probably are from Germanic languages. Of serving vessels resembling a boat, by 1680s (ship for "serving vessel or utensil shaped like a ship" is attested by 1520s). The image of being in the same boat "subject to similar challenges and difficulties" is by 1580s; to rock the boat "disturb stability" is from 1914.

shipshape (adj.)

also ship-shape, "properly arranged, in thorough order," 1762, earlier ship-shapen (1640s), originally "according to the fashion of a (sailing) ship," where neatness is a priority and the rigging must be serviceable and stowed properly; see ship (n.) + shape (n.).

shipping (n.)

c. 1300, "a ship, means of passing over water;" see ship (n.). The meaning "act of sending (freight) by a ship, etc." is from late 15c. As "ships generally or collectively" it is attested from 1590s.

airship (n.)

also air-ship, 1819, "ship propelled by an air engine," from air (n.1) + ship (n.). From 1888 as a translation of German Luftschiff "motor-driver dirigible."

amidships (adv.)

"in or toward the middle of a ship," 1690s, from amid + ship (n.). It retains the genitive -s of compounds of amid in Middle English, suggesting this one is older than the written record of it.

battleship (n.)

also battle-ship, "powerful warship designed to fight in a line of battle," 1794, shortened from line-of-battle ship (1705), a ship of the line, one large enough to take part in a main attack (formerly one of 74-plus guns); from battle (n.) + ship (n.). Later in the U.S. Navy it was used of a class of ships that carried guns of the largest size. They were rendered obsolete by seaborne air power and guided missiles; the last in the U.S. Navy was decommissioned in 2006. Battleship-gray as a color is attested from 1916. Fighter and bomber airplanes in World War I newspaper articles sometimes were called battleplanes, but it did not catch.

equip (v.)

1520s, from French équiper "to fit out," from Old French esquiper "fit out a ship, load on board" (12c.), probably from Old Norse skipa "arrange, place in order," usually "fit out a ship," but also of warriors manning a hall and trees laden with ripe fruit, from skip "ship" (see ship (n.)). Related: Equipped; equipping. Similar words in Spanish and Portuguese ultimately are from Germanic.

flagship (n.)

also flag-ship, 1670s, a warship bearing the flag of an admiral, vice-admiral, or rear-admiral, from flag (n.) + ship (n.). Properly, at sea, a flag is the banner by which an admiral is distinguished from the other ships in his squadron, other banners being ensigns, pendants, standards, etc. Figurative use by 1933.

longship (n.)

also long-ship, Old English langscip "warship, man-of-war;" see long (adj.) + ship (n.). Translating Latin navis longa.