Shrewd

How to spell shrewd

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shrewd

What does shrewd mean?

1. adjectiveHaving or showing sharp, practical judgement; clever at assessing a situation and acting to one's advantage.

Shrewd in a sentence

• Her shrewd handling of the contract saved the company thousands.

• A shrewd investor knows when to sell before the market turns.

Where does shrewd come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Shrewd grew out of the Middle English word schrewed, formed from shrewe plus an adjective ending. The base noun shrewe meant a wicked, spiteful, or scolding person, and it is the same word that named the small sharp-toothed mammal, the shrew, which folklore wrongly believed to be venomous. In its earliest recorded uses around the 1300s, shrewd carried strongly negative senses such as 'wicked', 'dangerous', or 'mischievous'. Over the following centuries the meaning softened and turned, moving through 'cunning' and 'crafty' toward today's admiring sense of being sharp and clever in practical judgement. The spelling preserves that hidden link to the animal: the silent-feeling SHREW at the start is exactly the noun shrew with a -d tacked on, which is the easiest way to remember why it is not spelled 'shrood' or 'shroud'.

How the word is built

• shrew (originally a malicious or scolding person)
• -d (past-participle/adjective ending)