shrew

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: shro͞o, IPA^(key): /ʃɹuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Etymology 1

From Middle English *schrewe, from Old English scrēawa (“shrew”, literally “biter”), from Proto-Germanic *skrawwaz (“thin; meagre; frail”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut; shorten; skimp”). Cognates include (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German scrawaz (“dwarf”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian skrugg (“dwarf”).

A shrew (def. 1)

Noun

shrew (plural shrews)

1. Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae (order Soricomorpha).
2. Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews (order Soricomorpha).
3. (derogatory) An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     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.

Synonyms

• (mouselike mammal): ranny (obsolete)
• (nagging woman): See Thesaurus:shrew

Hyponyms

• (mouselike mammal): common shrew

Alternative forms

• shrow (obsolete)

Derived terms

terms derived from shrew (noun)

• common shrew (Sorex araneus in family Soricidae)
• elephant shrew (Macroscelididae)
• Etruscan shrew ( in family Soricidae)
• hardishrew (Sorex araneus in family Soricidae)
• jumping shrew (Macroscelididae)
• Nelson's small-eared shrew (, family Soricidae)

• otter shrew (subfamily Potamogalinae in family Tenrecidae)
• shrew opossum (family Caenolestidae))
• shrew-run
• shrewd
• shrewish
• shrewmouse (Sorex araneus in family Soricidae)
• tree shrew, treeshrew (families Tupaiidae and Ptilocercidae in order Scandentia)
• West Indies shrew (genus † in family Solenodon)

Translations

mouselike animal

• Albanian: hundëgjati xhuxh ?
• Arabic: زَبَابَة f (zabāba)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Assamese: চিকা (sika)
• Basque: satitsu
• Belarusian: земляры́йка f (zjemljarýjka)
• Breton: minoc'h korrik
• Bulgarian: земеро́вка f (zemeróvka)
• Burmese: ကြွက်စုတ် (my) (krwakcut)
• Catalan: musaranya f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鼩鼱 (zh) (qújīng), 尖鼠 (jiānshǔ)

• Czech: rejsek m
• Danish: spidsmus c
• Dutch: spitsmuis (nl) f
• Esperanto: soriko
• Estonian: karihiir
• Faroese: trantmús f
• Finnish: päästäinen (fi)
• French: musaraigne (fr) f
• Galician: furaño m, musgaño m
• Georgian: ბიგა (biga)
• German: Spitzmaus (de) f
• Greek: νανομυγαλίδα (nanomygalída)
• Hungarian: cickány (hu)
• Icelandic: snjáldurmús f, snjáldra f
• Indonesian: celurut (id)
• Irish: dallóg fhraoigh f
• Italian: toporagno (it) m
• Japanese: トガリネズミ (ja) (togarinezumi), 尖鼠 (とがりねずみ, togarinezumi)
• Javanese: curut
• Korean: 뒤쥐 (dwijwi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latgalian: ciersleits
• Latin: sōrex m
• Latvian: cirslis m
• Lithuanian: kirstukas (lt) m
• Macedonian: ровка f (rovka)
• Maltese: ġurdiem ta’ geddumu twil m
• Navajo: chį́į́shnézí
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} beaiskonjunni, vánddis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spissmus m or f

  Nynorsk: spissmus f, skjerd m

• Occitan: musaranha (oc) f
• Persian: موش شبگرد (muše šabgard)
• Polish: ryjówka f
• Portuguese: musaranho (pt) m
• Romanian: chițcan (ro) m
• Russian: землеро́йка (ru) f (zemlerójka)
• Scottish Gaelic: dallag-an-fhraoich f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ровчица f, ровка f

  Roman: rovčica (sh) f, rovka (sh) f

• Slovak: piskor m
• Slovene: rovka (sl) f
• Spanish: musaraña f
• Swedish: näbbmus (sv) c
• Tagalog: musaranya
• Thai: หนูผี (nǔu-pǐi)
• Turkish: kir faresi
• Ukrainian: землери́йка f (zemlerýjka)
• Vietnamese: chuột chù
• Welsh: llyg f
• West Frisian: pipermûs f

woman

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 潑婦／泼妇 (zh) (pōfù), 泼妇 (zh) (pōfù)

• Czech: rachomejtle
• Danish: rappenskralde c
• Esperanto: megero
• Finnish: äkäpussi (fi)
• French: furie (fr) f, mégère (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: arpella f
• German: Megäre (de) f
• Hebrew: מִרְשַׁעַת f (mirshá'at)
• Polish: zołza (pl) f, hetera (pl) f, sekutnica f
• Portuguese: megera (pt) f
• Romanian: megeră (ro) f, scorpie (ro) f
• Russian: меге́ра (ru) f (megéra), ве́дьма (ru) f (védʹma)
• Spanish: arpía f, bruja (es) f

Etymology 2

From Middle English schrewen (“to make evil; curse”), from Middle English schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“wicked; evil; an evil person”), from Old English *scrēawa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Perhaps ultimately from the same word as Etymology 1 above.

Verb

shrew (third-person singular simple present shrews, present participle shrewing, simple past and past participle shrewed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To beshrew; to curse.
   • (Can we date this quote by Chaucer and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I shrew myself.

Anagrams

• Rhews, wersh