Shrimp Has Meant a Small Person for Six Hundred Years
A shrimp is a small marine crustacean. The insulting sense for a small person is just as old as the animal sense in English.
A shrimp is a small swimming crustacean, and a plate of them is a delicacy on most coasts. The mocking use for a small person is not modern slang: it appears in English from the late 1300s, meaning the animal sense and the insult have coexisted for six centuries. British and American English also disagree about where shrimp stops and prawn begins.
- A small crustacean. *Grilled shrimp.*
- A small person (informal, rude). *Move over, shrimp.*
- Verb, to fish for shrimp. *They shrimped the estuary.*
- Shrimp cocktail — a classic starter. *A prawn or shrimp cocktail.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | shrimp | One shrimp. |
| Plural | shrimp | A kilo of shrimp. |
| Alternative plural | shrimps | Potted shrimps. |
| Verb | shrimp | They went shrimping. |
| Related | prawn | Tiger prawns. |
- The boat lands shrimp every morning.Unchanged plural, common in American English.
- Potted shrimps are a Lancashire speciality.British, with the -s plural.
- He was called a shrimp all through school.The insult, six centuries old.
Shrimp or prawn?
- American English — shrimp covers almost everything
- British and Australian — prawn is the default; shrimp means the very small ones
- Biologically — the two names do not map onto clean scientific groups
- Menus — often decide by size rather than species
- The famous line — an Australian tourism advert said shrimp on the barbie for American ears
Middle English *shrimpe*, probably related to a Germanic root meaning to shrink or contract — which fits both the animal and the insult.
What is the plural of shrimp?
Both shrimp and shrimps are used. American English prefers the unchanged plural; British English uses shrimps more freely.
Is a prawn a shrimp?
It depends on the country more than the biology. British English separates them by size and type; American English mostly says shrimp for both.