-schaft

Middle High German -schaft, from Old High German -skaft, -skaf, from Proto-West Germanic *-skapi.

Cognate with Dutch -schap, Swedish -skap, English -ship, Danish -skab, West Frisian -skip. Final -t possibly from Proto-Germanic *-þiz, as seen in *gaskaftiz.

• IPA^(key): /ʃaft/, [ʃäft]

• Audio:

  (file)

-schaft f (genitive -schaft, plural -schaften)

1. -ship, -hood

   ‎Eltern (“parents”) + ‎-schaft → ‎Elternschaft (“parenthood”)

   ‎Graf (“count”) + ‎-schaft → ‎Grafschaft (“county”)