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shrimp.

Any of many swimming, often edible, crustaceans, chiefly of the infraorder Caridea or the suborder Dendrobranchiata, with slender legs, long whiskers and a long abdomen.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ʃɹɪmp/

  1. Any of many swimming, often edible, crustaceans, chiefly of the infraorder Caridea or the suborder Dendrobranchiata, with slender legs, long whiskers and a long abdomen.

    countable · uncountable

  2. The flesh of such crustaceans.

    uncountable

  3. A small, puny or unimportant person.

    countable · slang · uncountable

  4. Synonym of butterface

    countable · slang · uncommon · uncountable

  5. A small penis.

    countable · derogatory · figuratively · slang · uncountable
    shrimp dick
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-? Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ-der. Proto-Indo-European *skrembʰ- Proto-Germanic *skrimbaną Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną Proto-Germanic *skrimpazder.? Middle English schrimpe English shrimp From Middle English schrimpe (“shrimp, puny person”), possibly from or related to Middle Low German schrempen (“to wrinkle”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaz (“shrivelled”), from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną (“to shrivel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ-. See also Middle High German schrimpf (“a scratch, minor wound”), Norwegian skramp (“thin horse, thin man”); also Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and scrimp, Middle High German schrimpfen (“to shrink, dry up”), Swedish skrympa (“to shrink”); also Lithuanian skrembti (“to crust over, stiffen”), and possibly Albanian shkrumb (“embers, ashes; crumble”).

verb/ʃɹɪmp/

  1. To fish for shrimp.

    intransitive

  2. To contract; to shrink.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-? Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ-der. Proto-Indo-European *skrembʰ- Proto-Germanic *skrimbaną Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną Proto-Germanic *skrimpazder.? Middle English schrimpe English shrimp From Middle English schrimpe (“shrimp, puny person”), possibly from or related to Middle Low German schrempen (“to wrinkle”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaz (“shrivelled”), from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną (“to shrivel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ-. See also Middle High German schrimpf (“a scratch, minor wound”), Norwegian skramp (“thin horse, thin man”); also Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and scrimp, Middle High German schrimpfen (“to shrink, dry up”), Swedish skrympa (“to shrink”); also Lithuanian skrembti (“to crust over, stiffen”), and possibly Albanian shkrumb (“embers, ashes; crumble”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.