mid-15c., from ship, n. + wreck, n.. Earlier it meant "things cast up from a shipwreck" (c.1100). The earlier word for "shipwreck" in the modern sense was Middle English schipbreke, "'ship-break,'" from a North Sea Germanic word; compare West Frisian skipbrek, Middle Dutch schipbroke, German Schiffbruch, Old English scipgebroc. Old English scipbryce meant "right to claim goods from a wrecked ship."

1580s, "cause to wreck;" c.1600, "to suffer shipwreck," from shipwreck, n.. Related: Shipwrecked.