Etymologically
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friendship

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfrend.ʃɪp/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English frendship, inherited from Old English frēondscipe (“friendship, mutual liking”),[2][3][4] formed from frēond (“friend”) and the suffix -scipe.[3][2] See friend and -ship.[2][4] Dutch vriendschap and German Freundschaft are similar formations.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A friendly relation or intimacy: about 1000 in the OED.[5] In Old English it could also mean conjugal love.[2]

Semantic evolution

The state of being friends is recorded in the OED from about 1175.[5] Friendly feeling shown towards someone is from before 1300.[5] A friendly act or favour (1535) and friends collectively (about 1400) are obsolete.[5] Johnson's sense, an aptness to unite or correspondence between things, is from 1695.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – a friendly relation.[5]
  • c. 1175 – the state of being friends.[5]
  • before 1300 – friendly feeling.[5]
  • 1535 – a favour (obsolete).[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A relationship between friends.
  2. The state of being friends; friendly feeling.

Word family

  • prefriendship

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press