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
- prawner noun
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
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.
"I'd have prawn puri for starters, lamb rogan josh, Bombay potatoes with some saag aloo, peshwari naan, all the poppadoms, pilau rice, saag paneer," Benn says.
From BBC • Apr. 23, 2025
Between overfishing, climate change, plastic pollution, and habitat destruction, it’s a bad time to be a prawn, cod, seabird, or whale.
From Salon • Aug. 19, 2024
When he could not convince his father to get into year-round prawn cultivation, Tom reached a deal with him: “Grow pokkali, but leave marketing to me.”
From Seattle Times • Apr. 25, 2023
We often get animals that are caught as bycatch from a trawl or in a prawn trap.
From Slate • Dec. 10, 2022
I was hoping for river prawns in my traps that day, because river prawn okro soup with hot pepper was a favorite of Ma’s, and Klenam made it just as well as she did.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
