friendship

English

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friendship

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Friendship

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Etymology

From Middle English frendshipe, from Old English frēondsċiepe, from Proto-West Germanic *friundskapi. Equivalent to friend +‎ -ship.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frĕn(d)'shĭp, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

friendship (countable and uncountable, plural friendships)

1. (uncountable) The condition of being friends.
   • 1570, William Lambard, quoting Horace, A Perambulation of Kent‎, published 1596, page 341:

     But (as the Poet ſaith) Malè ſarta gratia, nequicquam coit, & reſcinditur: Friendſhip, that is but euill peeced, will not ioine cloſe, but falleth aſunder againe:

   • 1816 [1777], James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, The life of Samuel Johnson ‎, volume 3, T. Cadell and W. Davies, page 181:

     We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.

   • 1960, C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves, HarperCollins, published 2010, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.

2. (countable) A friendly relationship, or a relationship as friends.
3. (uncountable) Good will.

Synonyms

• (being friends): chumship
• (friendly relationship): entente cordiale

Antonyms

• enemyship
• foeship

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• friending
• mateship