shrimpyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[shrimp 词源字典]
shrimp: [14] The shrimp’s name appears to echo its small size. It was probably borrowed from some Low German source, and its possible relatives include Middle Low German schrempen ‘shrink, wrinkle’ and modern German schrumpfen ‘shrivel, shrink’. Its use for a ‘tiny person’ is virtually as old in English as its application to the crustacean, and probably goes right back to its original source.
[shrimp etymology, shrimp origin, 英语词源]
shrimp (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 14c., "slender, edible marine crustacean," probably from Old Norse skreppa "thin person," from Proto-Germanic *skrimp- (see scrimp). Related to Old English scrimman "to shrink;" the connecting notion is probably "thinness" (compare Danish dialectal skrimpe "thin cattle"). The meaning "puny person" in English is attested from late 14c.; an especially puny one might be a shrimplet (1680s).
shrimp (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"fish for shrimp," 1801 (implied in shrimping ), from shrimp (n.). Related: Shrimper (1808).