selfship

English

Etymology 1

From self +‎ -ship. Compare Danish selvskab, Swedish självskap, Norwegian selvskap.

Noun

selfship (uncountable)

1. The state, essence, or quality of self; identity; individuality.
   • 1882, Sarah A. Ramsdell, The lessons of the ages:

     [...] separate from God, or so long as God is only found in the heavens, and man is trying with the wrong key to unlock the sanctuary of this divine selfship.

   • 1918, International journal of surgery:

     Our selfship of the past must develop into citizenship. We must remember that each individual in the community is an asset to us — that no nation can be strong if its citizens are weak and diseased.

   • 1973, Melvin Herman Marx, William Allen Hillix, Systems and theories in psychology:

     The time-honored way was to use self as though it were a little man-inside-the-man who ordered all activities so that they pretty well suited his imperial selfship.

   • 1999, Iyanla Vanzant, In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want:

     Having learned so much about family relationships, friendships, and, more important, the selfship, Luanne documented how to develop and nurture all relationships with the vigilant employment of loving principles.

Etymology 2

From self- +‎ ship.

Alternative forms

• self-ship

Noun

selfship (plural selfships)

1. (fandom slang) A situation where a person makes an OC (own-character) or self-insert and ships them with their favorite character, aka a F/O (fictional other).This is also a coping mechanism for many. There are non-sharing self shippers where people will block or do not like other people crushing over their F/O and there are sharing self shippers which are the opposite of non-sharing.
   • 2023 November 5, @lexintothenex, Twitter‎:

     the one year anniversary of my selfship with rayman is coming up tomorrow and I really wanted to get some art done, but I've been so exhausted and burnt out lately that I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it...

Verb

selfship (third-person singular simple present selfships, present participle selfshipping, simple past and past participle selfshipped)

1. (fandom slang) To ship oneself with a fictional character.

Derived terms

• selfshipper
• selfshipping