# shrewd

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ʃɹuːd/ · frequency rank #25,204

## Definitions
1. Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
2. Artful, tricky or cunning.
3. streetwise, street-smart.
4. Knowledgeable, intelligent, keen.
5. Nigh accurate.
6. Severe, intense, hard.
7. Sharp, snithy, piercing.
8. Bad, evil, threatening.
9. Portending, boding.
10. Noxious, scatheful, mischievous.
11. Abusive, shrewish.
12. Scolding, satirical, sharp.

## Etymology
From Middle English schrewed (“depraved; wicked”, literally “accursed”), from schrewen (“to curse; beshrew”), from schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“evil or wicked person/thing”), from Old English sċrēawa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Equivalent to shrew + -ed. More at shrew.
The sense of "cunning" developed in early 16ᵗʰ c., gradually gaining a positive connotation by 17ᵗʰ c.

## Easily confused with
- **spread** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrewd-vs-spread)
- **shroud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrewd-vs-shroud)
- **strewn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrewd-vs-strewn)
- **shed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shed-vs-shrewd)
- **screw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/screw-vs-shrewd)
- **she'd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/she-d-vs-shrewd)
- **shred** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shred-vs-shrewd)
- **Shrek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrek-vs-shrewd)
- **shrew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrew-vs-shrewd)
- **shared** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shared-vs-shrewd)
- **shield** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shield-vs-shrewd)
- **shreds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shreds-vs-shrewd)
- **screwed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/screwed-vs-shrewd)

## Common misspellings (10)
`hsrewd`, `sherwd`, `shhrewd`, `shredw`, `shrewdd`, `shrewwd`, `shrrewd`, `shrwed`, `srhewd`, `sshrewd`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/shrewd