shrewd

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shreued, also schrewed and shrewde,^[2][3][4] probably formed from Middle English shreue (“wicked person”) + -ed,^{[5][2][4][6][7][8]} like crabbed, dogged and wicked.^[5][6][8] Some uses may instead be the past participle of the verb shrew, to curse.^{[2][5][9][10][11]} Shrew in the sense "wicked man" is generally taken as a figurative use of the animal name,^[12][5] from Old English scrēawa (“shrew-mouse”),^[6][5] because shrews were thought to have a poisonous bite;^[12] Partridge likewise derives it from the animal.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Depraved, wicked, malicious: 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[5] Barnhart has schrewede about 1280,^[4] and Etymonline dates the word to about 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant wicked or evil, of people and their deeds,^[5][2] and was soon used of harmful or dangerous things (about 1380), of bad things and reputations (about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible and Chaucer), and of anything poor or in bad condition.^[5] Chaucer has it seven times, Gower once.^[3] From the late 15th century it could mean grievous or hard, of misfortunes, tasks or blows.^[5][11][9] The modern sense developed in the 16th century through "cunning, artful",^[12][11] first recorded in 1520 according to Barnhart, in the 1510s according to Etymonline;^[4][6] the word gradually took on a favourable meaning, astute or sagacious, during the 17th century.^[10] Johnson (1755) still listed malicious and mischievous first, quoting Shakespeare.^[14] From the early 17th century it was also used of a piercing wind or a keen smell.^[11] In Shropshire dialect it still meant badly disposed or wicked at the end of the 19th century.^[15] Etymonline notes the old phrase a shrewdness of apes for a company of apes.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – schrewede, wicked, evil, malicious.^[4]
• 1303 – of people: depraved, wicked, malicious.^[5]
• c. 1380 – of things or animals: harmful, dangerous (obsolete by 1631).^[5]
• c. 1384 – of things and reputations: evil, bad, in the Wycliffite Bible and Chaucer.^[5]
• 1464 – shrewd turn, a mischievous or malicious act.^[5]
• 1520 – cunning, astute, clever.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1510s.^[6]
• c. 1858 – noun, a shrewd or cunning person, in Dickinson.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having or showing sharp judgment and practical good sense, especially in business; astute: She made a shrewd investment in the new railway.^[16][17][11]
2. Clever in a crafty way; artful, cunning.^[16][11]
3. (archaic) Of the wind or cold: sharp, piercing.^[16][11]
4. (obsolete) Wicked, malicious or spiteful; mischievous.^{[16][11][5][14]}

Word family

• shrewdly
• shrewdness
• unshrewd

Related words

• shrew
• shrewish
• beshrew

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster records a pronunciation with sr- especially in the American South.^[17]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster