Etymograph

English

shrew

Shrew comes from Middle English schrewe ‘a scoundrel or villain’, from Proto-Germanic *skrawwaz ‘thin’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skrawwaz‘thin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċrēawa
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schrewe‘a scoundrel or villain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1863shrew

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skrawwaz‘thin’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċrēawa
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schrewe‘a scoundrel or villain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1863shrew

Earliest quotation: 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu: “The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’

across, card, short, cross, cancer, share, screen, circle, score, circuit, shirt, crucial, curve, circus, circulation, skirt, carnival, curb, scare, scar, cancellation, scrutiny, circa, corona, scorpion, incarceration, crest, carnage, shrine, raffle, circulate, carcinoma, corolla, scorn, shear, crux, carnal, cirque, riddance, circulatory, 119 more

Today it means

noun Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- / shrew

Shirt and support for this word