Meanings
prawn1
plural prawns
- countableuncountableA crustacean of the suborder Dendrobranchiata.
The aphrodisiac nature of prawns is evident in an epigram by the Greek poet Asclepiades.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 197 - CommonwealthcountableuncountableA crustacean, sometimes confused with shrimp.
- AustraliacolloquialcountablederogatoryuncountableSynonym of butterface: A woman with an attractive body but an unattractive face.
She's a prawn!
Synonyms: butterface
- AustraliacountableslanguncountableA fool, an idiot.
He didn't say he was accused of that, prawn.
2001 February 1, Ned Latham, “Lovesick Puppy Poetry - Volume 1”, in aus.culture.true-blue (Usenet)1 more example
This is utter dribble. I've not read much worse than this in a long time - and he admits he doesn't know - "or so I am told". Get real, you prawn.
1999 August 2, Les Brown, “This old "almah" controversy”, in alt.religion.christian (Usenet)
present singular third person prawns · participle present prawning · participle past prawned · past prawned
- intransitiveTo fish for prawns.
prawn2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of butterface: A woman with an attractive body but an unattractive face.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
prawn · noun, verb
First attested early 1400s as various Middle English forms prayne, prane, praune, and prawne, which present no clear cognates in languages other than English. The forms suggest a hypothetical Old English form *prægn, where *æg would have evolved into Middle English *ay, but it is unclear if the word is of Germanic origin, from another European language, or loaned from a substrate. In the Isle of Wight, a word prankle ("prawn") is recorded and thought to be related. Century, following Skeat, suggested transposition of an unrecorded Old French *parne, *perne related to Spanish perna (“a flat shellfish”), Old Italian perna and diminutive pernochie, parnocchie, glossed as "shrimps or prawne, fishes" by John Florio, but the OED considers Florio's entry incorrect and the suggested connection semantically and phonologically implausible. Etymology 1, noun sense 3 ("woman with attractive body and unattractive face") is from the idea of discarding the head of a prawn before eating it.
Full word history & related roots →prawn · noun
An alternative spelling of pron (pronounced identically with cot-caught merger), which in turn is a corrupted spelling of porn.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans garnaal
- garnaallarge shrimp
Ancient Greek καρίς
- καρίς (karís)large shrimp
Arabic جَمْبَرِي, رُوبِيَان
- جَمْبَرِي (jambarī)large shrimp
- رُوبِيَان (rūbiyān)large shrimp
Bengali চিংড়ি, ইঁচা
- চিংড়ি (ciṅṛi)large shrimp
- ইঁচা (ĩca)large shrimp
- ইচলা (icola)large shrimp
- ইচলি (icoli)large shrimp
Bulgarian скари́да
- скари́да (skarída)large shrimp
Catalan gamba
- gambalarge shrimp
Chinese Mandarin 蝦 /虾, 明蝦 /明虾
- 蝦 /虾 (xiā)large shrimp
- 明蝦 /明虾 (míngxiā)large shrimp
- 對蝦 /对虾 (duìxiā)large shrimp
Czech kreveta
- krevetalarge shrimp
Danish reje
- rejelarge shrimp
Dutch garnaal, scampi
- garnaallarge shrimp
- scampilarge shrimp
Esperanto peneo
- peneolarge shrimp
Estonian krevett, garneel
- krevettlarge shrimp
- garneellarge shrimp
Finnish (iso) katkarapu, jättikatkarapu
- (iso) katkarapularge shrimp
- jättikatkarapularge shrimp
French crevette
- crevettelarge shrimp
German Garnele
- Garnelelarge shrimp
Greek γαρίδα
- γαρίδα (garída)large shrimp
Hebrew חֲסִילוֹנִים
- חֲסִילוֹנִיםlarge shrimp
Hindi झींगा
- झींगा (jhīṅgā)large shrimp
Hungarian garnéla
- garnélalarge shrimp
Icelandic rækja
- rækjalarge shrimp
Indonesian udang
- udanglarge shrimp
Irish cloicheán
- cloicheánlarge shrimp
Italian gambero
- gamberolarge shrimp
Japanese エビ, 海老
- エビ (ebi)large shrimp
- 海老 (ebi)large shrimp
Korean 징거미, 새우
- 징거미 (jinggeomi)large shrimp
- 새우 (sae'u)large shrimp
Latvian krevete, garnele
- krevetelarge shrimp
- garnelelarge shrimp
Lithuanian krevetė
- krevetėlarge shrimp
Malay udang
- udanglarge shrimp
Norwegian Bokmål reke
- rekelarge shrimp
Persian میگو
- میگو (meygu)large shrimp
Polish krewetka
- krewetkalarge shrimp
Portuguese camarão, pitu
- camarãolarge shrimp
- pitularge shrimp
Punjabi ਝੀਂਗਾ
- ਝੀਂਗਾ (jhīṅgā)large shrimp
Romanian crevetă
- crevetălarge shrimp
Russian креве́тка
- креве́тка (krevétka)large shrimp
Slovak kreveta
- krevetalarge shrimp
Spanish gamba, camarón
- gambalarge shrimp
- camarónlarge shrimp
- langostinolarge shrimp
- langostínlarge shrimp
Swahili uduvi
- uduvilarge shrimp
Swedish räka
- räkalarge shrimp
Tagalog sugpo
- sugpolarge shrimp
Tamil இறால்
- இறால் (iṟāl)large shrimp
Thai กุ้ง
- กุ้ง (gûng)large shrimp
Turkish teke
- tekelarge shrimp
Ukrainian креве́тка
- креве́тка (krevétka)large shrimp
Urdu جھینگا
- جھینگا (jhīngā)large shrimp
Vietnamese tôm
- tômlarge shrimp
Welsh corgimwch
- corgimwchlarge shrimp
Yiddish פּראָן
- פּראָן (pron)large shrimp
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with prawn
Cite this entry
prawn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prawn
“prawn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prawn. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prawn,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prawn.
Source: prawn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.