shrew

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small, active, insect-eating mammal with a pointed snout, resembling a mouse

   A tiny shrew searched for insects beneath the leaves.

2. 2
   noun

   a woman characterized as aggressively bad-tempered or nagging; dated and offensive

   The play relies on the dated stereotype of calling an outspoken woman a shrew.

From Old English screawa, the name of the small mammal. Medieval folklore wrongly treated shrews as venomous or malicious, which helped produce the later insulting human sense.

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