# shrimp

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃɹɪmp/ · frequency rank #9,815

## Definitions
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.
2. The flesh of such crustaceans.
3. A small, puny or unimportant person.
4. Synonym of butterface
5. A small penis.

## Etymology
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 *skremb-, *skr̥mb-.
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **strip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrimp-vs-strip)
- **shrine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrimp-vs-shrine)
- **shrink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrimp-vs-shrink)
- **ship** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ship-vs-shrimp)
- **Shri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shri-vs-shrimp)
- **shim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shim-vs-shrimp)
- **scrip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scrip-vs-shrimp)
- **shrill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shrill-vs-shrimp)
- **shriek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shriek-vs-shrimp)

## Common misspellings (10)
`hsrimp`, `shhrimp`, `shirmp`, `shrimmp`, `shrimpp`, `shripm`, `shrmip`, `shrrimp`, `srhimp`, `sshrimp`

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