shrew [OE] Old English scrēawa is from a Germanic source related to words with senses such as ‘dwarf’, ‘devil’, or ‘fox’. In the past it was used as a term of condemnation of both men and women as well as a term for the devil, but no one knows for certain whether a person is compared to the animal or vice versa. When shrewd [ME] first appeared it shared these negative associations, but as connection with the shrew and belief in the shrew’s evil weakened, it developed the sense ‘cunning’ and then the modern positive meaning ‘having sharp powers of judgement, astute’.