SHREW
What does "SHREW" mean?
A tiny insect-eating mammal with a long pointed snout, resembling a mouse but unrelated to rodents.
Meanings
- A small, mouse-like mammal of the family Soricidae, with a pointed snout and a very fast metabolism. A shrew must eat almost constantly or it will starve within hours.
- A bad-tempered, scolding person, traditionally a woman. Shakespeare's comedy is about the taming of a so-called shrew. archaic
Did you know?
- Some shrews are venomous - their toxic saliva paralyzes prey, a trick almost no other mammal has.
- The Etruscan shrew weighs under 2 grams - lighter than a coin - and its heart can beat more than 1,000 times a minute.
Word origin
From Old English 'screawa', the name of the animal; the insulting 'scolding person' sense arose in the Middle Ages from a folk belief that the shrew was venomous and spiteful.
Remember it
SHREW hides 'shrewd' minus the d - both come from the same word for this sharp little creature.
A little poem
Smaller than the thumb that fears it,
the shrew eats its own weight by dawn-
fury is just hunger that cannot stop.
tercet
What it teaches
The smallest things often burn the hottest: size is no measure of appetite or nerve.
Quick facts
What does SHREW mean?
A tiny insect-eating mammal with a long pointed snout, resembling a mouse but unrelated to rodents.
Is SHREW a valid word?
Yes — SHREW is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SHREW?
SHREW has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SHREW come from?
From Old English 'screawa', the name of the animal; the insulting 'scolding person' sense arose in the Middle Ages from a folk belief that the shrew was venomous and spiteful.
What can SHREW teach us?
The smallest things often burn the hottest: size is no measure of appetite or nerve.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.