Acquaintanceship

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being acquainted or familiar with someone is referred to as a social connection or relationship that is less intimate than friendship
2. A form of interpersonal relationship characterized by knowledge of another person without the depth of true friendship exists in this connection
3. This term signifies a relationship involving recognition and interaction with someone, but lacking the closeness and emotional bond typical of friendship

Etymology: "Acquaintanceship" is a plain compound: "acquaintance" with the suffix "-ship" added to it. The suffix has an old and fairly traceable ancestry. It goes back through Proto-Germanic "*skapjanÄ…", meaning shape or condition, to Old English "-sċiepe", which carried the same idea of state or quality. Over the Middle English period this softened into "-schipe" and then the modern "-ship". The suffix's original sense is what makes the word work. "Friendship", "hardship" and "kinship" all describe a state or condition, and "acquaintanceship" follows that pattern: it names the condition of knowing someone slightly, without the closeness that friendship implies. Note that the suffix is the same one that once meant something close to "shape" or "form", so the word is essentially "the form or state of being acquainted."

Synonyms: familiarity, association