Difficult conditions, suffering, or misfortunes that cause trouble or pain.
From Old English 'heard' (hard) combined with the Germanic suffix '-ship' (meaning state or condition). The word literally meant 'the state of being hard' and evolved to mean severe difficulties or suffering.
The suffix '-ship' is ancient and powerful—it appears in 'hardship,' 'kinship,' 'friendship,' and 'worship,' all describing states or conditions. It's one of the oldest word-building tools in English, borrowed from Germanic languages over 1,500 years ago.
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