prawn

B2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /pɹɔn/ UK /pɹɔːn/ See IPA manual

Freq #22858

Meanings

1

noun
A small sea creature with a shell and ten legs, eaten as food and similar to a shrimp.

We ordered a plate of grilled prawns at the restaurant.
2

verb
To fish for prawns.

They went prawning along the coast at dawn.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a small sea creature with a... shrimp

Word family

Forms prawns

Derived forms mudprawnprawnerprawnlikeprawnysandprawn

Etymology

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 she…

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# prawn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /pɹɔn/
**IPA (UK):** /pɹɔːn/
**Frequency rank:** 22858

## Meanings
1. A small sea creature with a shell and ten legs, eaten as food and similar to a shrimp.
2. To fish for prawns.

## Examples
- We ordered a plate of grilled prawns at the restaurant.
- They went prawning along the coast at dawn.

## Derived Forms
- mudprawn
- prawner
- prawnlike
- prawny
- sandprawn

## Etymology
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 she…

## AI Etymology
Prawn is 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. In present-day English it covers a small sea creature with a shell and ten legs, eaten as food and similar to a shrimp and to fish for prawns. The wider family includes derived forms such as mudprawn, prawner, prawnlike, prawny, sandprawn.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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