What Does This Mean?
A romantic hook that a creator plants on purpose to attract fans of a character pairing, such as lingering looks, intimate scenes or ambiguous lines. The related verb "shipbaiting" is criticism of a show that leads viewers to expect a romance it never intends to deliver.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
"Fans called the finale pure ship bait: two seasons of meaningful glances and no confession."
LORE & ORIGIN
The term combines "ship", fandom shorthand for a relationship between characters, with "bait" in the sense of an enticement. Fan glossaries describe ship bait as a pairing set up deliberately to catch the attention of shippers, and note that an official couple is often the result of it. Commentary on television uses "shipbaiting" for the case where the story hints at a pairing without any plan to make it happen, and treats queerbaiting as the narrower case of this that concerns queer romance. The term is informal and wording varies between communities; no dated first use is documented.
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