-ship /ʃɪp/ BrE AmE suffix [in nouns]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: -scipe ]
1 .
a particular position or job, or the time during which you have it:
He was offered a professorship (=the job of professor) .
in Mr Major’s premiership (=when he was prime minister)
her application for British citizenship
2 . the state of having something:
Private car ownership has almost doubled in the past ten years.
Their friendship developed soon afterwards.
3 . a particular art or skill:
his superb musicianship
a work of great scholarship
⇨ ↑ -manship
4 . all the people in a particular group:
a magazine with a readership of 9,000 (=with 9,000 readers)