Stewardship

How to spell stewardship

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce stewardship

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does stewardship mean?

1. nounThe careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.

Stewardship in a sentence

• The charity was praised for its prudent stewardship of donated funds.

• Good environmental stewardship means protecting the land for future generations.

Where does stewardship come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows out of the Old English noun stiweard or stigweard, which named the keeper of a great household; it joined stig, meaning a hall or possibly an animal pen, to weard, meaning a guardian or watcher. The steward was literally the person who guarded the house and its provisions, a role that climbed in importance until it described managers of estates and even high officers of the royal court. The abstract ending -ship, the same native suffix found in friendship and ownership, was added to express the office, duty, or careful management exercised by a steward. By the medieval period stewardship meant the responsible oversight of property or affairs on someone else's behalf, and modern usage has widened it to the careful, responsible management of anything entrusted to one's care, from finances to the natural environment. The spelling preserves the buried weard root in the -ward- portion, which is why the word keeps that 'a' that writers sometimes drop.

How the word is built

• steward (from stig 'house, hall'
• weard 'keeper, guardian')
• -ship (state or office of)