Shipping

Shipping, initially derived from the word relationship, is the desire by fans for two or more people, either real-life celebrities or fictional characters, to be in a relationship, romantic or otherwise. Shipping can involve virtually any kind of relationship: from the well-known and established, to the ambiguous or those undergoing development, and even to the highly improbable or blatantly impossible.

Shipping often takes the form of creative works on the internet, including fanfiction and fanart. A 'ship' refers to the relationship supported, while 'shipping' refers to the phenomenon.

The pairings of characters are typically given names—usually portmanteau of the characters names. For instance, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger combines the "Ro" from Ronald and "mione" from Hermione to give Romione. While other fandoms, such as Once Upon A Time choose ship names that fit the character's roles and personality. For example, 'Outlaw Queen' is the ship between an evil 'queen' and an archer.

History
The term originates from the X-Files fandom. The relationship between Mulder and Skully began gaining interest. Some fans occasionally described themselves as relationships or shortened as 'shippers. The use of the shortened term began around 1996. The earliest use of shippers is used in an X-Files form, alt.tv.x-files.creative. At this time, it was shortened to R'shippers.

The term later develops into shippers. Though for a period of time, shippers usually referred to fans who are interested in heterosexual relationships. While, 'Slashers' referred to people who enjoyed gay relationships in fanworks.