prawn

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prane, also prayne,^[2][3][4][5] of unknown origin.^{[6][7][4][8][9][10]} Etymonline quotes the OED's remark that no similar name was found in other languages.^[7] The revised OED compares West Frisian porre, North Frisian por and northern Low German Porr, all meaning shrimp or prawn, but thinks the slight resemblance may be chance;^[6] it also rejects, on grounds of sense and sound, a derivation from Latin perna (“ham”), used for a ham-shaped shellfish.^[6] Mayhew and Skeat had derived it from an unrecorded Old French form from perna,^[11] and Skeat in 1911 thought this hardly possible.^[12] Wiktionary notes that the Middle English forms suggest a hypothetical Old English *prægn, though it is unclear whether the word is Germanic at all.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The crustacean: the revised OED's first record is from 1336, in a medieval household account.^[6] Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary have prayne in 1426, in the court rolls of Maldon in Essex, and prane in 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense, though usage varies between countries: Collins defines the prawn as a slender, long-tailed relative of the shrimp,^[9] and the OED notes that it is applied more widely than to one group of species.^[6] Johnson (1755) described it as a small shellfish like a shrimp but larger, quoting Shakespeare.^[13] From 1845, in a letter of Dickens, prawn was used of a person likened to a prawn, especially a foolish one;^[6][14] in Australia it became slang for a fool, recorded by Green's Dictionary of Slang from 1893.^[15] The Australian phrase to come the raw prawn, to try to deceive someone, is recorded from 1940.^[6][9] The verb, to fish for prawns, is from 1886.^[6][16]

Timeline

• 1336 – the crustacean.^[6] Barnhart's first record is from 1426.^[3]
• 1578 – a decorative figure of a prawn (obsolete).^[6]
• 1845 – a person likened to a prawn, especially a fool.^[6]
• 1886 – verb, to fish for prawns.^[6][16]
• 1893 – in Australia, a fool.^[15]
• 1940 – Australian come the raw prawn, to attempt a deception.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various edible decapod crustaceans like shrimps but usually larger, with a long tail and a prominent beak on the shell: We grilled the prawns with garlic.^[16][9][6]
2. (informal) A person thought foolish or foolish-looking; in Australia, a fool.^[6][14][15]
3. come the raw prawn (Australian, informal): to try to deceive someone.^[9][6]

Verb

1. To fish for prawns, or to fish using prawns as bait.^[16][6]

Word family

• prawner

Related words

• shrimp

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster