prawn
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
-
any of various small edible marine decapod crustaceans of the genera Palaemon, Penaeus, etc, having a slender flattened body with a long tail and two pairs of pincers
-
informal to attempt deception
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prawn
1400–50; late Middle English prane, of uncertain origin
Explanation
A prawn is a crustacean that resembles a big shrimp, with long antennae and a shell. When you see prawns on a menu, just imagine large, juicy shrimp. The words shrimp and prawn are used interchangeably so often that the difference between them has blurred. In many English-speaking parts of the world, prawn is the more common term, while North Americans reserve that word for freshwater shrimp (as opposed to ocean shrimp). Prawn is a common name, rather than a scientific one — if you want to sound knowledgable, you can call this animal a decapod crustacean of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata.
Vocabulary lists containing prawn
Something's Fishy: A Fresh Catch of Aquatic Words
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Amazing Animals, A-Z
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Amazing Animals, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The firm says new-style packets for 14 of its products, including crisps and prawn crackers, will start to appear in shops in Japan from 25 May.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
Massara, an Italian restaurant in New York City, even serves a cold pasta: a chilled spaghetti with red prawn and briny, decadent sea urchin.
From Salon ● May 30, 2025
Products like albacore tuna and spot prawn can come from Vancouver, B.C.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
Lunch was roast rack of lamb with an Asian-style marinade, prawn tacos with pineapple salsa and a strawberry ginger trifle.
From New York Times ● May 1, 2023
Trapped in my bond in this wretched life, I felt like the river prawn we’d found that day.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
"Everything is there. I was stuck here," he told AFP in Karachi, near the well-known Bengali market where he peddles desiccated fish and prawns to make ends meet for $7 to $9 per day.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
Broiled prawns in a gochujang butter, garlic, and chives were served sizzling hot.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
The prawns measured in at approximately 68 becquerels per kilogram.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2025
This includes shellfish delicacies such as prawns, lobsters, crabs and crayfish that we both catch wild and farm.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2024
They roasted the prawns on the deck, and Christopher and Mal were covered to the wrist in shreds of pink shell when a spot appeared in the sky.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
