Other forms: shrews
A shrew is a small mouse-like animal, or a scolding woman. A common shrew, hunted by shrews, called her a shrew.
The animal must eat every few hours or starve, because it burns energy so fast, and some species are venomous. The insult is dated and was only ever aimed at women, with no male equivalent — The Taming of the Shrew is the famous use and an uncomfortable one now.
1nounshrewA small mouse-like animal.
“The cat caught a tiny shrew in the long grass.”
shrew is an animal, or an insult.
Old English screawa names the animal. The insult grew from a belief that the creature was spiteful or venomous.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- (cut)
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- — to cut; shorten; skimp
Proto-Germanic
*skrawwaz — thin; meagre; frail
Old English
sċrēawa — shrew
Middle English
schrewe
English, today
shrew
From Middle English schrewe, from Old English sċrēawa (“shrew”), from Proto-Germanic skrawwaz (“thin; meagre; frail”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to cut; shorten; skimp”). Cognates include Old High German scrawaz (“dwarf”), Norwegian skrugg (“dwarf”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA