# prawn
## English
### Etymology 1

First attested early 1400s as various Middle English forms prayne, prane, praune, and prawne, which present no clear cognates in languages other than English. The forms suggest a hypothetical Old English form *prægn, where *æg would have evolved into Middle English *ay, but it is unclear if the word is of Germanic origin, from another European language, or loaned from a substrate. In the Isle of Wight, a word prankle ("prawn") is recorded and thought to be related. Century, following Skeat, suggested transposition of an unrecorded Old French *parne, *perne related to Spanish perna (“a flat shellfish”), Old Italian perna and diminutive pernochie, parnocchie, glossed as "shrimps or prawne, fishes" by John Florio, but the OED considers Florio's entry incorrect and the suggested connection semantically and phonologically implausible.
Sense 3 ("woman with attractive body and unattractive face") is from the idea of discarding the head of a prawn before eating it.

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /pɹɔːn/
* (US, Canada) IPA: /pɹɔn/, /pɹɑn/
* (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /pɹoːn/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔːn

#### Noun

prawn (countable and uncountable, plural prawn or prawns)
* A crustacean of the suborder Dendrobranchiata.
* (Commonwealth) A crustacean, sometimes confused with shrimp.
* (Australia, colloquial, derogatory) Synonym of butterface: A woman with an attractive body but an unattractive face.
    She's a prawn!
* (Australia, slang) A fool, an idiot.
** 1999 August 2, Les Brown, “This old "almah" controversy”, in alt.religion.christian‎ (Usenet):This is utter dribble. I've not read much worse than this in a long time - and he admits he doesn't know - "or so I am told". Get real, you prawn.
** 2001 February 1, Ned Latham, “Lovesick Puppy Poetry - Volume 1”, in aus.culture.true-blue‎ (Usenet):He didn't say he was accused of that, prawn.

##### Derived terms

* Aesop prawn (Pandalus borealis)
* Alaskan prawn (Pandalus platyceros)
* banana prawn (Penaeidae spp.)
* come the raw prawn
* common prawn (Palaemon serratus)
* deep-sea prawn, deepwater prawn (Pandalus borealis)
* Dublin Bay prawn (Nephrops norvegicus)
* furrowed prawn (Penaeus latisulcatus)
* giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon)
* great northern prawn (Pandalus borealis)
* green prawn
* Indian prawn (Fenneropenaeus indicus)
* king prawn
* kuruma prawn (Marsupenaeus japonicus)
* lawn prawn
* long-clawed prawn (Palaemon australis)
* mantis prawn (Squilla spp.)
* monsoon river prawn (Macrobrachium malcolmsonii)
* musical prawn (Penaeopsis novae-guineae)
* Oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense)
* Parktown prawn (Libanasidus vittatus)
* pistol prawn (Crangonidae spp.)
* porn and prawn
* prawn cocktail
* prawn cocktail offensive
* prawn cracker
* prawn killer
* prawn sandwich brigade
* prawn toast
* queen prawn (Penaeidae spp.)
* river prawn (Palaemon australis)
* royal red prawn (Haliporoides sibogae)
* school prawn (Metapenaeus macleayi)
* snapping prawn (Crangonidae spp.)
* soldier prawn (Plesionka martia)
* spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros)
* tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon)

##### Translations
#### Verb

prawn (third-person singular simple present prawns, present participle prawning, simple past and past participle prawned)
* (intransitive) To fish for prawns.

### Etymology 2

Alternative spelling of pron (pronounced identically with cot-caught merger), which in turn is a corrupted spelling of porn.

#### Noun

prawn (plural prawns)
* Alternative form of porn.

### References

* ↑ Joseph Wright, editor (1903), “PRANKLE”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume IV (M–Q), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.
* 1 2 OUPblog
* ↑ William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prawn”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Prawn”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
* Århammar, Nils (1986): Aspects of Language: Geolinguistics