prawn
Americannoun
-
prawns
plural
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:
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
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
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
For many people the terms prawn and shrimp are used interchangeably.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2023
A very old man, bent but active, with white mustaches that bristled forward like those of a prawn, pushed open the swing door and went in.
From "1984" by George Orwell
And it might also be time to turn to some lighter fish, such as tuna, salmon or prawns.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
"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
That seafood pizza with tuna and prawns wasn’t a huge seller, it turned out.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2025
Broiled prawns in a gochujang butter, garlic, and chives were served sizzling hot.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
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.
