Your Worship: The Word Once Meant Worthiness
Worship is reverence, usually religious. Its old sense of worthiness survives in the way English addresses a mayor or a magistrate.
Worship is the showing of reverence, usually to a deity. The original meaning was plainer: worth-ship, the condition of being worthy. That older sense has not vanished. A magistrate in England is still addressed as *Your Worship*, and the old marriage vow *with my body I thee worship* meant honour, not adore.
- Reverence to a deity. *A place of worship.*
- To revere. *They worship there on Sundays.*
- Adoration of a person. *Hero worship.*
- A title of respect. *Your Worship.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | worship | Public worship. |
| Verb | worship | They worship in silence. |
| Past | worshipped | Long worshipped there. |
| Person | worshipper | Early worshippers. |
| Adjective | worshipful | The Worshipful Company. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The church is a place of worship.Noun.
- Your Worship, may I approach?Addressing a magistrate or mayor.
- The Worshipful Company of Grocers.A London livery company.
Spelling note
- British — worshipped, worshipping, worshipper
- American — worshiped, worshiping, worshiper
- Rule — Britain doubles the final consonant more readily
- Same pattern — travelled, cancelled, labelled
- Worshipful — one p in both varieties
From Old English *weorthscipe*, worthiness or honour, from *weorth*, worthy, and the suffix *-ship*. The religious sense narrowed later.
Why are magistrates called Your Worship?
Because the word originally meant worthiness or honour. The title preserves the older sense untouched.
Worshipped or worshiped?
Two p's in British English, one in American. Both are standard in their own variety.