Where does “shipshape” come from?
Shipshape comes from English ship and English shape, both from Middle English -en and Old English -en, tracing back through Proto-Indo-European skeyb-, skēy-, ḱóm, and en.
shipshape (English): Meticulously neat and tidy; Neatly and tidily to...
Definitions
- Meticulously neat and tidy; Neatly and tidily to...
Ancestry of “shipshape”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | ship | A water-borne vessel generally larger than a... |
| 2 | English | relationship | Connection or association; the condition of being... |
| 3 | English | relation | The manner in which two things may be associated;... |
| 4 | Middle English | relacion | — |
| 5 | Old French | relacion | — |
| 6 | Latin | relātiō | — |
| 7 | Latin | referō | — |
| 8 | Latin | rĕ- | — |
| 9 | Latin | prōdūcō | — |
| 10 | Latin | prō- | — |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | *pro- | — |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pro- | toward, forward |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | por- | to give birth; forward, through; going, passage |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |