'readership' originates from English, specifically the compound of 'reader' and the suffix '-ship', where 'reader' derived from Old English 'rǣdere' meaning 'one who reads' and '-ship' meant 'state or condition'.

'readership' changed from Middle English forms such as 'redership' or 'redershipe' and eventually became the modern English word 'readership'.

Initially, it often referred to the office or rank of a 'reader' in an academic context; over time it broadened to commonly mean the collective body or number of readers of a publication.