shrimp
n. C / Un. a small sea animal with a shell and many legs that people often eat. You might find them in pasta or salads.
n. a small, free-swimming crustacean with an elongated body and ten legs, many species of which are commercially important as food.
I ordered a plate of grilled shrimp for dinner.
The chef carefully peeled the shrimp before adding them to the boiling pot of spicy broth.
Marine biologists observed that certain species of shrimp maintain a symbiotic relationship with larger fish by removing parasites from their scales in exchange for protection.
From Middle English schrimpe (“shrimp, puny person”), possibly from or related to Middle Low German schrempen (“to wrinkle”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic skrimpaz (“shrivelled”), from Proto-Germanic skrimpaną (“to shrivel”), from Proto-Indo-European skremb-, skr̥mb-. See also Middle High German schrimpf (“a scratch, minor wound”), Norwegian skramp (“thin horse, thin man”); also Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and scrimp, Middle High German schrimpfen (“to shrink, dry up”), Swedish skrympa (“to shrink”); also Lithuanian skrembti (“to crust over, stiffen”), and possibly Albanian shkrumb (“embers, ashes; crumble”).
The plural form can be either 'shrimp' or 'shrimps', though 'shrimp' is more common in culinary contexts.