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shrew

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shrew¹

  • /ʃɹuː/
  • /ʃɹɪu̯/ dialectal

Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

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”).

noun shrews · shrow

  1. Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.

    Similar: ranny, soricid

  2. Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
  3. derogatory An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold. The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. 'Rogue,' 'old miser,' 'old sneak,' and a great many worse names, she called him.

Similar: battle axe, bitch, brim, brimstone, cat, cockatrice, crow, dragon, faggot, fishwife, harpy, harridan, hellcat, jade, nag, nudnik, scold, she-devil, shrew, termagant, virago, vixen, witch

shrew²

  • /ʃɹuː/
  • /ʃɹɪu̯/ dialectal

Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

From Middle English schrewen (“to make evil; curse”), from Middle English schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“wicked; evil; an evil person”).

verb shrews · shrewing · shrewed

  1. obsolete, transitive To beshrew; to curse. I shrew myself.

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: battle axe, bitch, brim, brimstone, cat, cockatrice, crow, dragon, faggot, fishwife, harpy, harridan, hellcat, jade, nag, nudnik, scold, she-devil, shrew, termagant, virago, vixen, witch

Translations

Every language

noun mouselike animal

Españolmusaraña
한국어뒤쥐 dwijwi, 첨서 cheomseo
日本語尖鼠 togarinezumi
中文鼩鼱 qújīng, 尖鼠 jiānshǔ
Portuguêsmusaranho
Françaismusaraigne
DeutschSpitzmaus
Italianotoporagno
Ελληνικάνανομυγαλίδα nanomygalída, μυγαλή mygalí
Românăchițcan
Русскийземлеро́йка zemlerójka
Tiếng Việtchuột chù
العربيةزَبَابَة zabāba

noun woman

中文潑婦 /泼妇 pōfù
Portuguêsmegera
Françaisfurie, mégère
DeutschMegäre
Românămegeră, scorpie
Русскиймеге́ра megéra, ве́дьма védʹma
עבריתמִרְשַׁעַת mirshá'at

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MLA

"shrew." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shrew. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shrew. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shrew

Chicago

"shrew." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shrew.

BibTeX
@misc{shrew_2026,
  title = {shrew},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shrew},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}