shrewd

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ʃrud/ UK /ʃruːd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
having sharp practical judgment and astuteness

A shrewd investor, she sold her shares before the crash.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · having sharp practical... astute canny sharp perceptive cunning sagacious

Opposites

naive obtuse gullible foolish

Word family

Forms shrewdlyshrewdness

Derived forms shrewdlyshrewdness

Related forms shrew

Etymology

From Middle English shrewed ('wicked, evil'), originally the past participle of shrewen ('to curse'), from shrewe ('a wicked person, a shrew'); the sense shifted from 'malicious' to 'cunning' and then 'astute'.

shrewe Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# shrewd

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ʃrud/
**IPA (UK):** /ʃruːd/

## Meanings
1. having sharp practical judgment and astuteness

## Examples
- A shrewd investor, she sold her shares before the crash.

## Synonyms
- astute
- canny
- sharp
- perceptive
- cunning
- sagacious

## Antonyms
- naive
- obtuse
- gullible
- foolish

## Derived Forms
- shrewdly
- shrewdness

## Related Forms
- shrew

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: shrewe

## Etymology
From Middle English shrewed ('wicked, evil'), originally the past participle of shrewen ('to curse'), from shrewe ('a wicked person, a shrew'); the sense shifted from 'malicious' to 'cunning' and then 'astute'.

## AI Etymology
Shrewd comes from Middle English shrewed ('wicked, evil'), originally the past participle of shrewen ('to curse'), from shrewe ('a wicked person, a shrew'); the sense shifted from 'malicious' to 'cunning' and then 'astute'. The historical chain includes Middle English shrewe. Older glosses in the chain include "wicked, evil", "to curse", "a wicked person, a shrew", and "malicious", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, shrewd is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "having sharp practical judgment and astuteness". English derivatives include shrewdly and shrewdness; related forms include shrew. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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