shrink [OE] Old English scrincan, of Germanic origin, is related to Swedish skrynka ‘to wrinkle’. The sense ‘draw back’ in an action of recoiling in abhorrence or timidity dates from the early 16th century. Shrivel [M16th] comes from a related Scandinavian word. In the informal sense ‘a psychiatrist’ shrink is a shortening of headshrinker. The longer form appeared in print in 1950, and shrink itself in 1966. A headshrinker was originally a head-hunter who preserved and shrank human heads.