The office, position, or authority of a person in charge; leadership or supervisory responsibility; archaic or ceremonial term.
From 'charge' plus '-ship' suffix indicating office or status (as in 'leadership,' 'kinship'). This formation creates an abstract noun describing the state of holding responsibility.
The '-ship' suffix is a linguistic fossil from Old English—it shows up in 'friendship,' 'leadership,' and 'chargeship.' Every '-ship' word proves that modern English is built from ancient layers.
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