shipping

¹ American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or business of a person or thing that ships.

2. a number of ships, especially merchant ships, taken as a whole; tonnage.

3. Obsolete. a voyage.

---

shipping ² American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

Slang.

1. the act or practice of discussing, writing about, or hoping for a romantic relationship between fictional characters, as in fan fiction, or between famous people, whether or not the romance actually exists in the book, show, etc., or in real life.

   the shipping of TV characters;

   shipping in webcomics.

---

shipping British  

/ ˈʃɪpɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. the business of transporting freight, esp by ship

   2. ( as modifier )

      a shipping magnate

      shipping line

2. 1. ships collectively

      there is a lot of shipping in the Channel

   2. the tonnage of a number of ships

      shipping for this year exceeded that of last

---

Usage

What else does shipping mean? Shipping is the act of wanting two or more fictional characters or celebrities to end up in a relationship, usually romantic.

Other Word Forms

• nonshipping
  adjective

---

Etymology

Origin of shipping¹

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at ship ¹, -ing ¹

Origin of shipping²

First recorded in 1990–95; (relation)ship + -ing ¹

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shipping

Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have effectively policed shipping in the Red Sea using an often-overlooked application system for captains seeking transit clearances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Conversely, removing trade protections on America’s steel mills and other key industries won’t solve disrupted oil shipping.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

The closure, which begins Saturday, has been years in the making and included impact-mitigation meetings between Caltrans officials, neighboring communities, shipping companies, labor unions and the contractor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

The company is only just shipping its first fuel cells to Texas, where it has been underexposed as developers in the state favor natural-gas combustion technology, Dendrinos said.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

On one side stretched a shipping channel about half a kilometer wide.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• freight
• ship

---