shipping

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪpɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪpɪŋ

• Audio (UK)

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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.

Noun

shipping (countable and uncountable, plural shippings)

1. The transportation of goods.
   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […]   But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

2. The body of ships belonging to one nation, port or industry; ships collectively.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Scene 7,^[1]

     Our overplus of shipping will we burn; / And, with the rest full-mann’d, from the head of Actium / Beat the approaching Caesar.

   • 1724, Daniel Defoe, A General History of the Pyrates‎^[2], London: T. Warner, Introduction, page 23:

     […] the Advantage appeared greatly on their Side, in Numbers of Shipping, and of Men;

   • 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 22, in My Bondage and My Freedom‎^[3], New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, page 345:

     My first afternoon, on reaching New Bedford, was spent in visiting the wharves and viewing the shipping.

   • 1970, Robertson Davies, chapter 2, in Fifth Business‎^[4], Toronto: Macmillan, page 107:

     […] I clearly remember a castle on the shores of the lagoon, where gondolas appeared amid larger shipping, which seemed to be plying in and out of Naples […]

3. Passage or transport on a ship.
4. The cost of sending an item or package via postal services.

   The shipping is included in the quoted price.

5. Navigation.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     God send 'em good shipping.

Derived terms

• shipping lane
• short-sea shipping
• take shipping

Translations

transportation of goods

• Bulgarian: доставка (bg) (dostavka), доставяне (bg) (dostavjane)
• Catalan: enviament (ca) m, transport (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 運輸／运输 (zh) (yùnshū), 航運／航运 (zh) (hángyùn)

• Czech: přeprava (cs) f
• Dutch: verzending (nl)
• Finnish: kuljetus (fi)
• French: expédition (fr) f, envoi (fr) m
• Galician: envío m
• German: Schifffahrt (de) f
• Hungarian: szállítás (hu)
• Irish: seoladh m
• Latin: nāviculāria f
• Macedonian: до́става f (dóstava), до́ставка f (dóstavka), доставу́вање n (dostavúvanje), пре́воз m (prévoz)
• Portuguese: remessa (pt) f, transporte (pt) m, envio (pt) m
• Russian: перево́зка (ru) f (perevózka), доста́вка (ru) f (dostávka), отпра́вка (ru) f (otprávka)
• Serbo-Croatian: dostava (sh) f, prijevoz (sh) m, isporuka (sh) f, otprema (sh) f
• Spanish: envío (es) m, transporte (es) m
• Swedish: frakt (sv)

body of ships belonging to one nation, port or industry

• Bulgarian: флот m (flot)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 船舶 (zh) (chuánbó)

• Finnish: laivasto (fi)
• Irish: loingeas m
• Macedonian: фло́та f (flóta)
• Portuguese: frota (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: luingeas m or f

passage or transport on a ship

• Finnish: laivamatka (fi) (passage), laivakuljetus (fi) (transport), laivaus (fi)
• Irish: loingseoireacht f
• Macedonian: брода́рење n (brodárenje), пло́видба f (plóvidba)
• Serbo-Croatian: plovidba (sh) f, brodarenje n

cost of sending goods

• Bulgarian: навло n (navlo)
• Catalan: despeses d'enviament f pl, despeses de transport f pl
• Czech: doprava (cs) f
• Danish: forsendelsesomkostninger c pl
• French: frais de port (fr) m, frais de transport m, transport (fr) m, frais de livraison m
• Galician: gastos de envío m pl
• German: Versandkosten (de) pl or f, Transportkosten (de) pl or f
• Greek: έξοδα αποστολής n pl (éxoda apostolís)
• Hungarian: szállítási költség
• Irish: iompar m, seachadadh m
• Italian: spese di spedizione f
• Macedonian: по́двоз m (pódvoz)
• Norwegian: fraktutgifter
• Portuguese: taxas de envio f pl
• Serbo-Croatian: dostavnina (sh) f, podvoz (sh) m, podvoznina (sh) f
• Spanish: gastos de envío m pl, gastos de transporte m pl
• Swedish: fraktkostnad (sv)
• Welsh: cludiant m

Etymology 2

From ship +‎ -ing.

Verb

shipping

1. present participle of ship