Shipping源自于relationship一词，指真人明星或者虚拟人物的粉丝将两个人物配对成恋爱关系或其他关系。这种配对通常在创造性作品中体现，包括发布在网络上的粉丝文学和粉丝艺术。

　　Shipping can involve virtually any kind of relationship: from the well-known and established, to theambiguous or those undergoing development, and even to the highly improbable or blatantlyimpossible. Though "shipping" usually refers to romantic relationships, it can also refer to simplefriendships; this subset is sometimes known as "friendshipping", or a "BrOTP" (aportmanteau of the terms bromance and one true pairing). Shipping in fan fiction betweena same-sex couple is also known as slash fiction, an older term and concept that dates to the late1970s.

　　这种粉丝配对基本会产生各种关系：有众所周知的和已经明确的关系，也有暧昧不清或尚需发展的关系，甚至还有完全不可能的关系。虽说这种配对多指恋爱关系，有时也可以指单纯的友情，这个分支也被称为friendshipping(友情配对)，或者简称为BrOTP(好基友bromance和最棒配对one true pairing的合成形式)。粉丝文学中同性伴侣的配对故事也叫slash fiction(同人小说)，这个说法可以追溯到上世纪70年代。

　　In anime/manga communities, shipping is more commonly referred to as pairing(s); in Filipino popculture, it is frequently called loveteam(s). In East Asian contexts, the practice is also referred to ascoupling or CP.

　　在动漫领域，shipping(配对)通常被称作pairing，在菲律宾流行文化中，则被叫做loveteam。而在东亚文化中，这种行为则被称为coupling或CP。